Golden Bullet
by 100-series
Summary: Contains all written entries from a livejournal challenge, 30kisses. MOMOxJr. WARNING: may cause excessive squeee. If vomiting occurs, discontinue use.
1. entry 1 jolt!

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 1!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:   
I am the creator of way too many MOMO x Jr. fics as it is. But, I saw this and couldn't say no. So here's 30 fics that will seriously test any fan's mush tolerance level.   
This is a 30kisses challenge entry. If you don't know about the "30 kisses" challenges and themes them I will explain. On LiveJournal there are several groups that will give a challenge. 30kisses has a list of short themes, most of them only one or two words to think about. A fic has to be written about each theme. The catch is, each one also has to have a kiss in it, though it doesn't have to be literal or between the pairing the fic is about. There are a few different groups based on this idea, and I just joined one at random. XD   
These fics will mostly be one-shots, but there are a few that tie together. So, if you find yourself confused, just read the description! 

Other News:   
Find Us Peace is on Hiatus since my latest chapter (all that hard work!) got wiped out before I was able to upload it as the result of an error I made while backing up my computer for a reformat. (groan.) Also, there are pictures from Xenosaga 3 available on the web now! Check it out, and I'll try to get all my fics done before XS3 rends them all completely wrong. 

That is all! I hope you have as much fun reading this as I have had writing it. 

**"It's Electric!"**   
_30kisses Challenge #3 - Jolt!_   
Description: During the Proto Merkahba mission, humor.   
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me) 

Jr. and Shion, the natural leaders of the group, took the point as usual while MOMO and KOS-MOS ran behind them in that order. Ziggy ran protectively behind MOMO, and chaos behind KOS-MOS. Their little train of adventurers usually kept together according to their unique bonds as they made their way through dangers unfathomable. Currently, that danger was the gigantic space station used to create MOMO, the ominous _Proto Merkahba_. 

Proto Merkahba was an electronic labyrinth filled with Gnosis creatures that defied death even more so than the standard fare, mutated realians, and dangerous security robots. They stuck closely to each other as they ran up the many flights of stairs, avoiding the Gnosis where possible. There weren't many steps left to cover as they ascended to the final platform. 

"Now we're getting somewhere!" Jr. yipped excitedly, as he found the door to the top floor. "There's no more space to go up, so we must be close, right?" 

"Didn't these people think of elevators?" Shion grumbled, catching her breath as she stopped. "I mean _really!_" 

"Let me see if I can open the door," MOMO said with a calm smile. "It will only take a moment." 

The small pink-haired realian pressed her hand against the console and closed her eyes. Jr. watched closely in amazement as her hand began to glow and resonate with the controls. It was an incredible hacking attempt that surpassed his own skills. This admiration was cut short as she jerked slightly, attracting everyone's attention to something amiss. 

"Eip!" she yelped, as suddenly her eyes fluttered open in surprise. A blue spark of electronics shot up her fingers and into her body and jolted her. Ziggy, Jr., and Shion all started at the sight. 

"MOMO!" Ziggy said loudly but with a calm head, as her golden eyes dimmed and she fell backwards unconscious into his arms. 

"She's not breathing!" Shion stated the obvious, while Jr. was panicking. 

"Stay calm," Ziggy stated. "One of you must preform CPR. My lungs do not function in such a manner." 

KOS-MOS did not seem the least bit worried, but offered her advice nonetheless. "Neither do mine. Gaignun Kukai Jr., please commence resuscitation immediately. 

Jr. flinched nervously. "Wha-you mean like mouth to mouth?" 

KOS-MOS blinked. "That would be correct. My database states that you possess this skill. Is there a problem?" 

"W-Why me?" Jr. choked. "Make Shion do it! A guy shouldn't do it!" 

"Well I- I don't know how to give CPR!" Shion yelled at him. "Besides, you should do it because... you know!" 

"No way, you do it!" he yelled back. "You know ju-jitzu and first aide, so you must know CPR!" 

"How should I know that?" she sniped again. "We all know you know how to do it already, so do it!" 

Ziggy was growing impatient with their bickering. "Just do it, Jr. MOMO is in serious danger." 

"Yeah, but... but..." Jr.'s face turned slightly pink. "I don't you know... have her permission..." 

"Sure you do," Shion said, nudging him. 

"I could do it," chaos suggested, taking a step forward. This immediately earned him death glares from both the URTV and the Vector scientist. 

"You stay out of this chaos!" Shion said, stabbing daggers at him with her eyes. "Jr. is going to do it!" 

"Okay, okay!" the red-haired URTV gave in and kneeled beside MOMO, who Ziggy laid on her back against the ground. He took in a deep breath trying to comfort himself with the thought that this was not a real kiss, and he needed to save MOMO after all, there was absolutely nothing indecent about it. However, that wasn't working for him very well and he began to sweat as his face drew closer and closer. 

Shion whispered to her android friend, "Get this on film." 

"Affirmative." 

"Hurry up," Ziggy grumbled, his voice was beginning to show his immense inner frustration. If his lungs were not cybernetic, he would have done it himself the moment it happened. 

Jr. wasn't about to let himself get shown up by the cyborg again, so he swallowed and pressed his mouth against MOMO's while holding her nose. This was only a few seconds after the ralian's eyes opened and she fully regained consciousness. Her internal nano repair systems had repaired the damage entirely. Waking to a plugged nose and a lip lock confused her as it would anyone, and she began to flail violently, accidently smacking Jr. in the head with the back of her hand. 

"What are you doing?" she squeaked, face pink as a sakura petal as she sat up. Jr. rubbed his face and Shion was laughing so hard she might fall over. It took a moment before it all came together for the confused little realian. "Oh, I'm sorry I hit you!" she said meekly, and put a hand on his shoulder with a tender gentleness. "Are you alright?" 

"I'm fine!" he spouted embarrassedly, and shrugged her hand off, facing the other direction. He brushed off his jacket though it had nothing on it, and put on his down-to-business face. "Well, the door didn't open, so lets find another way in!" 

MOMO looked up at Ziggy and Shion in guilt as Jr. walked away, believing that she must have done something wrong. The two adults only shook their heads in dismay and told her not to worry. 

"Please wait one moment," KOS-MOS said. "I will attempt to open the door manually." 

"How?" Jr. asked her. "There's no lock or handle!" 

KOS-MOS answered by calling forth her two triple chain guns from the ether circuit. Jr. had just enough time to duck for cover before the android went postal on the door. Everyone covered their ears out of fear of going deaf as the bullets blasted constantly for several seconds, tearing the door apart. Once it was a pile of smoking metallic rubble, the bullets stopped, the chain guns slowed to a halt, and the guns disappeared. 

"Well," Jr. said hesitantly, looking at the cleared path. "That's _one_ way of doing it..." 


	2. entry 2 Calcium

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 2!

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Notes from 100-series:   
This project would make a very good drinking game. Here, try this:   
-When a kiss occurs: drink 1 shot   
-When someone blushes: drink 1 shot   
-When I do something mean to Jr. even though I love him so much: drink 1 shot   
-If Jin, Canaan or Wilhelm get screen time: drink 2 shots   
-When KOS-MOS blows something the hell up even though its supposed to be a romance fic: drink 2 shots   
-When someone appears with cat ears: drink 3 shots   
-If MOMO says a swear word: drink 4 shots   
-When someone dies: drink until you feel better! 

Other News:   
Well, I'm going to try and space out the humor, drama, action, romance, angst, etc. by switching them around. So... here's one thats not very funny at all. (Are any of them funny?)

* * *

**"Adults"**   
30kisses Challenge #28 - Wada Calcium CD3   
Description: Sometime after Xenosaga 2 (AU Xenosaga 3), drama/romance.   
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me) 

The crew and passengers of the Elsa had been on edge ever since once again, they had happened to all be on the same course to the same place. It was too convenient. As he made his way to the Elsa bar (the ship's glorified cafeteria) for a drink, Jr. couldn't help but wonder if something deeper was at work here. He did not suspect any of his friends of a misdeed, but he did fear that some, perhaps Shion and KOS-MOS, were being manipulated. 

He decided not to dwell on that as the droid poured him a glass. Though it was programmed not to give alcohol to children, it had learned long ago not to get in Little Master's way when he wanted a drink. Though Jr. tried his best not to think too hard, there were still so many issues. Albedo was gone. Gaignun was missing. U-DO's presence was no longer in the tangible realm. The balance of the URTV's 'seal' and the sleeping U-DO was all but gone. He sloshed the rich-colored liquid in his glass and wondered if that meant he too would disappear soon enough. 

After finishing the glass, he returned to the hallway. At the end of it, he saw MOMO approaching and smiled warmly, covering up his bad mood. "Hungry?" he asked her. "Better get full... you never know when we won't be able to eat for a while the way things happen around here." 

MOMO giggled. "You worry about food more than anything sometimes." 

Jr. began to chuckle in response, but suddenly he felt a sharp jabbing pain in his side. He groaned and leaned against the wall, grasping his stomach in agony as the painful sensation spread throughout his body. "Wh- what the hell?" 

MOMO gasped in alarm and gave him her shoulder to lean upon as he writhed. "Jr. what's wrong?" she asked. He was shaking, and his skin felt hot to the touch. As a 100-series realian, she could see that his DNA was behaving strangely, though she could not determine the cause. 

"It hurts," he strained to say. "My whole body... uhg..." He heard MOMO calling his name desperately as he fell unconscious, limp in her arms.

* * *

Some time later he awoke and his entire body felt numb. "Ouch," he grumbled, and tried to open his eyes. After a few attempts he got it right and found himself in a bed that had been going unused in the girls' room. As he spoke, his voice sounded strange. It was cracked, dry, and hard to force out. "What happened?" 

"Jr..." MOMO cooed softly. Through quite an effort he turned his head to see her sitting beside his bed. Standing beside her was Shion. Ziggy and chaos stood behind them, each with worried expression on their faces. Jin and Canaan were present as well, providing as much sympathy as their cool exteriors would allow. Even KOS-MOS had found it in her mechanical heart to be there for him. He looked down at his body and found that it had changed. He was a few inches longer, much thinner, and looked sickly bony like a drenched cat, overall. MOMO struggled to state the obvious conclusion with a voice that shook. "You... you're growing." 

"We managed to stabilize your growth," Shion whispered. She looked horrified and worried beyond comfort, just like MOMO. "But... your cell growth defies all known sciences. We can't really help you much other than to give you plenty of pain killers and hope MOMO's nano-treatments keep you from growing faster than your cells can generate enough tissue." 

Jr. felt sick to his stomach, though he couldn't discern if it was an side-effect, or simply the shock of seeing his form so drastically different. "Don't worry about me you guys," he reassured them. "My genes were designed to work in a certain way... they won't mutate and kill me. You can bet that much..." Then his voice darkened, and he closed his eyes again, lying back against the bed. "Somebody out there... still needs me for some purpose..." 

MOMO turned to look at the others, wondering if they should just let him sleep. Chaos nodded. "Let's let him rest a while more," the wise, silver-haired youth said. "He may not have long to do so before things get rough again." They filed out of the room, MOMO last after pulling a blanket over Jr.'s shoulders. 

They continued to monitor their friend with every hour that passed. His form went through stages so quickly, they were shocked to find him a bit older at each checkup. First his body would grow in length, his bone structure would change so that he looked skeletal and frail, then his muscles and body mass would catch up again and he would look normal before repeating the cycle. MOMO and shion watched over him carefully while the others remained at a loss. Jr. refused to let them turn back the Elsa because of him. He reassured them with the same line each time they insisted. "I'll be fine in just a few days, I'll bet you anything."

* * *

Sometime two days later, MOMO came in to check on him carrying a bundle of bottles. Her face lit up as she saw him sitting with his own strength, fully awake. He looked healthier, as if the process was slowing down as he approached his final form. Right now he looked like a slightly younger red-haired version of his brother Gaignun, with broad shoulders and an elongated but still somewhat boyish face. 

"Hey," he said. His voice had improved as well. It sounded much deeper and gave MOMO a start. This caused Jr. feel uneasy, which in turn made MOMO shy away in guilt. "I'm okay," he said. "I'm sorry... if I look really weird." 

"No!" MOMO insisted, recovering her forcefully happy mood. "In fact, you look wonderful. Everyone says so." An idea occurred to her, and she fished in one of Shion's compartments, drawing out a compact that projected a large mirror when opened. "Have you seen your face yet?" she said smiling, and handed him the tool. 

Looking into it, he found a young man staring back instead of a young boy. He grimaced comically and poked at his face with his fingers. "Crap," he said. "I look like Gaignun," he groaned and put the mirror away, rubbing his candy apple red hair in frustration. "How are we ever going to explain this to the foundation?" 

MOMO smiled weakly as she set down. "I can't wait until Mary and Shelley get to see you," she said. "They'll be so happy for you. You're going to be as big as Gaignun, I bet..." To the contrary of her words, her voice sounded disappointed. 

Jr. looked at her sympathetically, and then down at the items she held. "What's that?" he asked. 

"Oh!" MOMO snapped out of a daze. "I found these in the kitchen! They're vitamin supplements. My database says that they help when you're growing, so..." 

"Thanks," he said softly. "I dunno if that will help, but its worth a try. Good idea." 

MOMO beamed. "Good!" she said, and poured him a glass of water. "Take this vitamin C. You haven't eaten anything either, so its best that you recover some of your nutrients." 

He watched her pour the water, and hold the glass out to him sheepishly. It was like meeting her for the first time again, she was so shy. He looked away silently as he took it and the white medicine tablet, wondering if they would ever share the same connection that they once had. Was this the same girl that ran to him and hugged his neck only months ago? He wondered about the one girl who understood him because she was in the same situation. Did looking like he did put a divide between them? 

"Are you in any pain?" she asked him, interrupting his thoughts with a concerned tone as he swallowed the pill. 

"Not really," he replied. "Just a little... no big deal." He drank some more water to help it down and then lowered the glass. "Thank you for everything, MOMO. But... if I could bother you for just one more thing?" 

MOMO's head bobbed up eagerly. "Anything!" 

Jr. laughed nervously and rubbed his ear. "Umm... could you find me some clothes? I think I won't be growing too much more... I hope not." 

MOMO inwardly scolded herself for not thinking of that sooner. "Oh, right! I'll borrow some from chaos!" 

"Er," Jr. grimaced, imagining himself in one of his feminine friend's outfits. That was not a comforting thought. "Ask Tony or Hammer first, would you? Or Matthews even..." 

MOMO yawned as she answered. "Okay..." 

"Hey... how much sleep have you gotten?" he inquired, worried for her own health. 

MOMO smiled brightly in response as she stood, but he could tell that it was a fake smile. "Not much, but I'm okay!" She cast her eyes away sadly and began to leave. "I am a realian after all... not a growing girl." As she realized she had said this aloud, she hurried to change the subject. "Drink all of your water, okay!" She tried to leave quickly, but he grabbed her wrist. It seemed smaller and even more delicate than he remembered. 

"Wait..." 

She turned back to face him, her cheeks flushed bright scarlet, wishing she hadn't said anything at all. He hesitated for a moment, and then pulled her towards him. Her eyes widened as he leaned near her, brushed her pink bangs to one side, and placed a light kiss against her forehead. He let go of her and she took a step back, staring at him wide-eyed in embarrassment. His expression was serious and confident as he grinned a half-smile she had come to find so familiar. 

"You will grow someday. I know it."

* * *

_The Xenosaga ODM suggests that as U-DO's anti-existence, without U-DO the URTV will loose all meaning in their existence and possibly cease to exist entirely._


	3. entry 3 radio, & entry 4 fence

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 3-4!

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Notes from 100-series:   
This is actually entry number 3 and 4, because number 3 was a fan art entry. might eat the URL but here it is:   
http/img274.imageshack.us/img274/36/30radio1ok.jpg   
If this line is blank or garbled, sorry. It's "radio cassette player" theme number 14. 

Other News:   
ChuckieUm was the one who gave me this idea. So you can thank/blame him for it. XD

* * *

**"Fencing"**   
30kisses Challenge #25: Fence   
Description: Sometime during or after Xenosaga 2, humor.   
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me) 

As an unwilling witness to the scene that laid before her, Shion let a heavy breath of air out of her lungs in frustration. "Why are you doing this?" she asked, though she didn't really want to know the answer. Jin had somehow found one of those disturbingly revealing traditional Japanese robes in a small person's size, and as a result Jr. now looked just as ridiculous as he did with his bare legs showing each time he moved. In his hand, the short red-haired boy held a katana. "And hey!" she shouted. "That's my sword!" 

"You never use it so don't complain," Jin replied, as he showed the deceptively childish young man how to hold the weapon. As he examined the stance the boy took, he realized that this wasn't mere fooling around. Jr. was already proficient at the basics of sword combat due to his training as a biological weapon as one might expect, and took to moving with it quickly. 

"Heh," Jr. chuckled, as he struck a pose. "This is really cool, I gotta say." 

Shion rubbed her head and decided to leave Jin's training room before she had a limb cut off. "You look like a girl," she grumbled as she left and stepped outside into the back yard. There, MOMO was puzzling over a garden that had no plants in it, only perfectly smooth grey ripples of sand and rocks. 

"What... is this?" she asked. 

"It's a stone garden," Shion groaned. "I dunno... I think it's tacky." MOMO tilted her head, befuddled. 

"OW, CRAP!" came the shout of the loud-mouthed young red-head from the paper and wood building. "How the hell did you just do that?" 

Shion and MOMO turned their heads. "Injured himself even quicker than I expected," Shion said, unsurprised. MOMO however, flew into the room in alarm to see what was the matter. 

"A reckless head-on attack will never work with a sword," Jin instructed, standing over Jr., who was sprawled on his back. Shion's sword had been flung across the room. "You must carefully predict your opponent's movements and wait for the moment to strike efficiently." 

"Maybe this really isn't my style after all," Jr. grumbled, nursing a gash on his upper right arm. 

MOMO knelt beside him and began looking the wound over. "You shouldn't play with sharp things," she said. "Why not use practice swords? Wooden ones?" 

"Its not the same thing, MOMO," Jr. replied with a pout. "I wanted to use real ones." 

"I'm sorry for striking you," Jin interjected with an earnest apology, loosening his posture. "I have to say I was a bit reckless myself, and that you have some considerable inner talent. Otherwise I would not have injured you." 

"Nah, it's okay," Jr replied with a grin. "It's just an accidental scratch, and I asked you not to take it easy on me." 

Shion stood at the door, wondering why she had to be related to such a weird person. "I'll go get some nano-spray," she sighed. "Could you manage not to chop up any of my friends before I get back?" 

"I don't have any around," Jin realized. "I sent it back with all of the doctor's equipment I didn't need. Should have bought some before hand." 

"Nah it's nothing," Jr. said, pulling his legs into his familiar cross-legged sitting position. With the robe on, it was awkward and he pressed it down. "I'll be okay." 

"Don't be silly," MOMO said, and reached out to take his arm. He allowed her to do so, watching with interest as she closed her eyes in concentration. The onlookers fully expected to witness a healing ether spell, but instead the girl stuck out her tongue and licked the bleeding gash with her tongue, much like a cat. Jr. was mortified and began to blush violently red as her lips closed over the wound as if to seal it, and then pulled away. Shion watched stunned into silence, and even Jin was a bit shocked. 

"Umm... What did you do that for?" Jr. asked, bright blue eyes wide open. He looked down at the injury and realized that it no longer hurt, and that the wound was no longer bleeding freely. "Huh?" 

MOMO looked up at him innocently, as if nothing strange at all had just happened. "Oh," she said. "I just temporarily reprogrammed my own nano-repair systems to mend your skin and applied it directly." She smiled brightly. "Now no one has to go to the store!" 

Jr. took his arm back and tried to hide the color rising in his face. Shion stifled a laugh as he did so. "I didn't know realians could do that, MOMO," she said. "Good idea." MOMO took the compliment without realizing the humor intended. 

Jin however, was more inclined to tease the young man who reminded him so much of his sister. "Should we fence some more? I could try to bust your lip next." 

Jr. stood with his nose wrinkled in mild anger and embarrassment. Shion laughed, and MOMO looked up saucer-eyed unsure of what the joke was about. "I'll show you!" Jr. challenged as he picked up the sword. A brilliant, confident grin appeared on his face as he resumed his stance. "Stand back, MOMO! I'm gonna teach him a lesson!" 

Shion shook her head in dismay and left. However, MOMO continued to watch the lesson unfold, clapping whenever Jr. actually gained on the great sword master. 

"You're sure you've never done this before?" Jin asked. 

Jr. smiled. "Hey, its like I always say, with her on my side, I can't lose!" 

MOMO sat at a safe distance kneeling politely. "Yay!" she cheered. "I love you, Jr!" 

"H-Huh? What?" Jr. froze and his head whipped around for a short moment before he was sent sprawling again by Shion's tall older sibling. He hit the ground on his back with an "oof!" 

MOMO gasped and shot up again to treat him. "Oh no, I thought that was what fans are supposed to cheer! Did I say it wrong?" 

"Oh yes, and don't let yourself be distracted," Jin said. "You should concentrate on-" 

Jr. was not amused as he rose to a sit from his crumpled sprawl. "I swear to God Jin, if you say numbers and battle strategy, I'm slugging you." 


	4. entry 5 say aahhh

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 5!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:   
Here's number 5! It's another cute one. I think the next one will be all teh angst, w00t. (coughs) I hope this one isn't too OOC or anything. 

Other News:   
My computer is really a piece of junk and keeps eating my fics >> So there might not be any updates on the multi-chaptered ones like Find Us Peace and Sayonara for a while.

* * *

**"Hugs and Kisses"**   
30kisses Challenge #18: Say "ahhhh"   
Description: At any point the group is staying on the Elsa.   
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me) 

It was a normal morning on the Elsa. As always, the group was on high alert but somehow it was comforting to have everyone together again. MOMO set the course on the bridge and then started thinking about other important matters such as whether Shion needed help making breakfast or if Captain Matthews was suffering from a hangover as usual. 

"MOMO!" Hammer said loudly as he entered the bridge for the first time this morning. He sounded like he had urgent news. 

"What is it?" she asked, turning in her chair to see what the fuss was about. 

"It's Jr.," he said. "He's been in the men's quarters all morning barfing up supper!" 

Despite the unpleasant way Hammer described what was going on, MOMO stood immediately in concern. "What's wrong?" 

"Dunno!" he replied. We all ate the same stuff so it can't be food poisoning." 

"I hope he's not sick," she replied, heading towards the door. "I'll go see if I can help!" 

She ran out of the bridge and found a medkit to take into the males' quarters which was nearby. Upon opening the door, she found Tony standing over Jr. in one of the beds. "Dude," Tony said, "you shouldn't drink so much, you're little!" 

"I did not drink anything!" Jr. barked back at him in a hoarse voice. Tony began to look a bit afraid for his own state of health upon angering him, and seeing that MOMO was now present, he decided to leave. 

MOMO smiled sympathetically as Tony passed her. She approached Jr.'s bed and sat down on the edge of it beside him. His face was a sickly color and the expression on it matched. "I heard that you weren't feeling well," she said. "You have a stomach ache?" 

"Yeah," Jr. groaned, casting his face away, ashamed to have her see him looking so awful. 

She patted his shoulder and took out a liquid and spoon from her kit. "Just take a little of this to settle your stamach while I find out what's wrong and make you some medicine. My sensors say that you're running a high fever." 

"That's impossible," Jr. grumbled and pouted, as he gurdgingly poured himself some of the stomach elixir. "I'm a URTV, I can't get sick." 

MOMO shook her head and resisted a laugh. It was always amusing when Jr. actually acted the age he looked to be. "There are certain highly-evolved viruses that even designer children can catch," she explained. "You're not immune to them all." 

Jr. wrinkled his nose at being placed in the class of "children" even if it was just a term for the gentically enhanced, and then sneezed again. "So whut do I hab?" he mumbled, wiping his nose on his sleeve. MOMO shook her head again and handed him a self-cleaning tissue from the medkit. 

"Even a observational realian can't tell from just looking at you silly," she said as he took the tissue. "But you're running a fever and I can tell that your digestive and respiratory systems have been upset. Calm down a little or your stomach won't settle." 

He let out a hefty breath at being scolded in this way but decided she was right. MOMO held up his wrist to get a more exact reading on his internal temperature and heart rate among other things that realians could tell by touch. He had to admit that having her attention all to himself was kind of nice. She was sitting on the bed next to him and she had very soft hands. She would make a good nurse, a very cute nurse at that with a little hat and a white dress and- 

"Jr., your heart rate just increased a little, is something wrong?" 

Jr. shook his head returning to reality. He realized he had almost fallen asleep. "I guess I am feeling kinda woozy." 

"Aw," MOMO cooed. "We'll fix you right up as soon as I know what's wrong!" She now had a tongue depressor in hand. "Let me check your throat okay?" 

"Huh?" Jr. had never had this kind of examination before. 

"It's a lot quicker for me to scan by sight that to take a sample and analyze it." 

"How do I-" 

"Just stick out your tongue and say 'ahh,'" she demonstrated by doing so herself. 

Jr. laughed, though it caused him to cough once before he was able to follow her instruction. He stuck his tongue out and said "ahh," in an overly dramatic manner. His intention was to make her laugh too, but she responded by jamming the flat stick into his mouth instead. "Ahh!" 

She examined his mouth for a moment with eyes that zoomed in to a microscopic level. "Okay!" she said cheerily and removed the stick. Jr. gagged and coughed a few times. 

"Geez, I thought you were trying not to make me barf!" 

MOMO patted him on the shoulder with sympathy he really hadn't meant to stir out of her with his little joke. "I'm so sorry," she said in such a concerned tone that he felt ashamed. 

"It's okay, I didn't mean it." 

Running though all of the information in her database, she found a match. "Looks like you have the newest recorded flu," she said, turning her golden eyes from numbers that only she could see to Jr. again. She smiled and began to explain while she prepared some medicine. "One of the oldest existing viruses... it evolves so fast that it has managed to stay alive for thousands of years despite the advances of medicine. Though it can be passed through air at close range, it's very rare because most environmental systems will kill it. It's more likely you caught it through a body fluid such as saliva. Now how did you ever manage to catch such a thing?" 

"I dunno," Jr. said, puzzling the matter himself. "If Gaignun and half the women on the Durandal were all sick at the same time I would understand it, but it isn't like I go around kissing people." 

MOMO laughed at that. "Maybe you accidently drank after someone?" She held up a medical compressor filled with her concoction. "Here," she said. "This will only sting for a second." 

She rolled up Jr.'s sleeve and placed the cold metal surface against his bare shoulder. With a mechanical _whoosh_ the contents entered his bloodstream with a hardly noticeable touch of pain. "What'd you give me?" he asked. 

"Well... there's no cure and nano treatment would probably be overkill, so I gave you plenty of pain reliever and immune system boosters. Your immune system is so tough already, you should be better by tomorrow. Maybe even this afternoon." 

Jr. sat up straight and rolled his shoulders. He was already beginning to feel better. "Thank you very much, Doctor MOMO," he said jokingly with a grin plastered on his face. "So what do I get for being such a good patient today?" 

MOMO giggled as she gathered her things to leave. "I don't know if you were that well-behaved," she teased him back. 

"Come on," he continued. "On the foundation, the nurses never let me leave without giving me a sucker pop or something." 

MOMO stood up beside the bed. "I don't have any candy, sorry." With her medkit in hand, she leaned over and kissed his cheek as if this was the most natural thing she could do upon leaving. "Get well soon," she said, and turned to leave. 

Jr. was stunned for a moment and when he began to breathe again it came out in a cough. "What did you do that for?" he choked. 

MOMO turned and smiled as she approached the door. "I think that kisses and hugs make you feel 100 percent better, don't you?" 

Jr. was feeling a bit better except for his stomach, which was even more unsettled now that it felt like butterflies were fluttering in it. "Uh-huh," he mumbled, nodding his head. 

MOMO opened the door to find Tony and Hammer huddled behind it. She stepped back in surprise as both of the young men straightened up and grinned mischievously. "I think I caught it too!" Hammer said. 

"Yeah, I'm dying!" Tony added. "We need hugs and kisses too!" 

That was enough to get Jr. back on his feet and perfectly healthy again. The two Elsa crew members however, were shortly in need of some real medical attention. 


	5. entry 6 kHz

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 6!

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Notes from 100-series:   
This fic is a stretch for the characters. Basically, I was thinking about the theme, kHz, and thinking of why that appears on my MP3 player. Then I thought they wouldn't have a thing like that in the Xenosaga world with their advanced technology, so this would be a good chance for me to get in an alternate universe fic, which I wanted to do a couple of. So, I tried to take the relationship of MOMO and Jr. and Sakura and put it into a modern-day environment the way that I see them. So, it got a little stretched character-wise, but I hope you'll still like it. 

Other News:   
Still with the computer awfulness. ARG. However, I do have quite a few of these kisses to upload, so good!

* * *

**"Rain and Music"**   
30kisses Challenge #17: kHz   
Description: Alternate Universe, modern-day world   
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me) 

The streets were empty thanks to the thick grey clouds rolling overhead ominously as if worsening along with the girl's spirit. Her stomach grumbled as the thunder began. It had been two days since she had a meal. She didn't have any money. All she had in her pockets were extra batteries, and they were running out. Soon she wouldn't even have her music. 

She looked at the MP3 player in her hand, reading messages she never bothered to notice before. "kHz." Though she understood what it stood for, she didn't know what it meant. 

A raindrop splattered against her nose. She turned her head down to avoid being struck in the eye by more as they fell all at once. Fearing only for the safety of her music and not her own state of dryness, she shoved the MP3 player into a pocket where it would not be damaged. She continued to walk with her head turned down and the droplets pelted the road providing a soft roar as a back beat for her suitably somber music. 

As she watched her feet pass over cracks in the sidewalk, now dark with water and smelling distinctly of wet concrete, she wondered just where she was and why she was here. It might not be called running away, since that recalled the idea of a na•ve young spoiled child crying out for attention. It could more accurately be described as wandering. She just didn't feel like being where she was anymore, but she had nowhere to go. Soon her clothes were drenched and her bangs hung heavily in her eyes. 

A sound filtered through the rain and past the ear-buds drumming slow beats into her ears. "..ey!" She assumed that it wasn't being directed at her, because why would anyone here talk to her? And even if it was, no one had anything but cruel things to say. Why listen? But, the noise was persistant. A few seconds later, it called out again, this time a bit louder. "Hey!" 

Resigning to her fate, she stopped and turned her head, pretending to just have noticed. She found a boy who looked to be a few years older and a good bit taller than herself closer to her than she had guessed. She removed one of the earpieces and stared at him blankly. He possessed striking but boyish features and bright blue eyes along with cherry-red hair. On his face there was a wide grin as he held out a typical black umbrella to cover her. "Girls shouldn't wander around alone on dark afternoons," he said. 

She looked down at the ground and backed away into the rain, wondering if he was warning of his own intentions. There was little other reason for a handsome young man to do anything but spit on her. "I'm just walking home," she lied. "I'm fine, really." 

The boy's smile faded and his face began to show concern. "This isn't the best place to be," he said. "I would feel much better if you allowed me to walk you home." 

"Do I... know you?" she replied meekly, trying to drop a hint. If he was really just the heroic type, then she would have to convince him that she was not in need of his help. 

"I guess not..." he replied. "We have a class together at school. You haven't been there since wednesday... I guess you weren't just sick or something, huh?" 

She looked up in slight alarm. "Why did you..." she said, bringing a finger to her mouth nervously. "How come you noticed me?" 

"I-uh," he stuttered, and then took a deep breath. "I was friends with your sister. You two look just alike. I tried to say hello to you a few times but you didn't notice me." 

"I'm sorry," she replied. "But... I'm really nothing like Sakura, so..." 

"That's not it," he said defensively. "Look... I just really wanted to talk to you, that's all. Nobody around here liked Sakura..." 

"You want to talk about her?" she replied in a slow, smooth tone. "It's not too painful?" 

He relaxed his shoulders in relief and smiled again. "I'd be happy to. Hey... if you don't want to go home, it's okay. There's a place near here where I like to go." 

She listened as the battery life on her MP3 player finally died. The messages in the display faded. The "kHz" disappeared. After hesitating a moment, she removed the bud from her ear and nodded in agreement. "Okay." 

He held the umbrella over her head and led her through the empty streets of the town's business section. She felt colder underneath it as the air brushed her skin. Noticing that her white shirt was becoming transparent, he removed the jacked from his shoulders and draped it over hers. 

She accepted it, but felt guilt in doing so. "I am not Sakura, you know that..." 

"Like I said," he replied, "it isn't that at all. Besides... she never would have taken it." 

Her face turned up slightly to catch a distant expression on his. Maybe there really were good people in the world, and she was fortunate enough to be in the presence of one of them. 

Her anxiety returned to her as they approached a doctor's office. It was completely empty after business hours. There was a single car in the wet parking lot, she imagined it was his. They made their way across avoiding the deeper puddles until they reached the overhang where the young escort folded his umbrella and took out a set of keys. 

She had been expecting something more along the lines of a park or a library, not this building hidden away from anyone who could see them. "Is it alright to be here?" she asked him, wondering how he had acquired the keys and what he would expect of her upon entering. 

"Yeah," he said, flashing a comforting smile as the door opened. "This is my dad's office and I work here on weekends, so I can pretty much come and go as I please." 

He gestured for her to step inside first and she did so, not fearing what might become of her. If he could be that gentle and if his smile was that warm, then she didn't care. Let him have her for all that she cared. 

He followed after her and closed the door behind them. The waiting room was lit only by the light filtering through the windows, already dim due to the clouds overhead. The rain tapped against the roof in heavy sheets. It was a soothing sound that calmed her nerves. 

"You can sit down anywhere," he said, motioning to the empty chairs all around. "I've got some drinks and snacks in a refrigerator around here. I can get you some clothes too if you want to change into something dry." 

"No thank you," she replied a bit too quickly, slightly flustered at the thought of baring herself in this place. "But... some food would be nice if its not too much trouble." 

He chuckled softly and shook his head. "Okay, sorry I asked," he said, and ducked behind the receptionist's desk. After retrieving some soda and potato chips, he returned to find that she had taken a seat in a chair. Taking care to sit across from her rather than next to her as that might make her feel uncomfortable, he leaned over and offered her his findings. "Sorry its not real food," he said. 

"Thank you." She reached out gently and took the bag and a drink. As soon as she caught the scent of it, her hunger became ravishing. Resisting the urge to eat it all at once, she asked him "Can I plug in my MP3 player?" 

"Sure," he said, leaning back in the chair. She plugged it into a nearby socket. The symbol of kHz along with the track listing reappeared. She returned to her seat and began to eat. "Oh yeah... my name's Rubedo," he said after a moment filled only with the sound of her crunching on chips. "Your name is Momoko, isn't it?" 

"I don't like to be called that," she replied very quietly, putting the chips aside though she was still hungry. "But, you can call me that if you want to." 

"What do you want to be called?" he asked her. 

"My dad called me just Momo," she replied. He noticed that her posture was tense and she was hiding her eyes behind her bangs. 

"That's cute," he said, trying once again to comfort her with a smile. "Do you mind if I call you Momo?" 

She shook her head. "You can," she said. Then, she was silent for a moment. "Were you... Sakura's boyfriend?" 

Rubedo seemed perturbed as she raised her head to look at him, then relaxed. "Not... exactly," he said. "Never officially..." 

"I'm sorry." 

He let out another deep breath and raised his eyes to hers again. "No, I really did want to talk to you about her, so I should explain my connection to her. I just don't want to give you a bunch of information you don't care about." 

Momo's expression changed to one of concern rather than discomfort. "It's alright," she said. "If you want to talk about something, I'll listen." 

"Really?" He seemed surprised. "You're kind... alright, then I will tell you my little sob story." He cracked open his can of soda and took a sip of it before continuing. His eyes cast down to the floor. "Sakura and I have known each other since we were little. She and I were always a little more than friends. A lot of things we shared, first kiss and all that. But she never called me her boyfriend. It was never unusual for her to suddenly start hanging around another boy, and forget about me for a while. She would always come back, and I would always forgive her." 

He paused to take another drink, and see if she was still listening. Momo was listenning, quite intently at that. "Was she a bad person? Why does everyone here hate her?" 

"She was kind of a tomboy," he said, giving a small laugh. "She hung out with guys, and offended most of the girls. But she was sweet to all the guys, and they got mad at her one by one when she dumped them. I'm the only one who really cared about her." 

"Sakura wrote me letters," she said. "We saw each other every once in a while. She always said that I was too shy. She told me..." Rubedo looked up as her sentence trailed off, but she would not finish it. "It's nothing." 

"Well... another thing," he continued. "A lot of girls wanted to go out with me. But I didn't like any of them. I liked Sakura. If I didn't have her, then I didn't want to be with anyone else. They began to hate her for that as well, and because she was so beautiful, and made the best grades in class... because she was the best on whatever team she joined." 

"Sakura was on a team?" Momo asked. "I'd never join a team..." 

"Heh," he laughed again. "Me either. But she was on five." 

Momo ate some of the chips again. She was feeling much better now, and comfortable in her environment. It was actually quite peaceful, the low light and the sound of rain. "I can't believe that she would hurt you that way," she said. 

"It was sort of my fault," Rubedo replied, rubbing his fingers through his red hair. "I wouldn't get serious enough for her. I always thought... we're still very young, so... what if she's not the one, and what if she leaves me again even if I did do as she asked?" 

"It's okay," Momo said softly. "I don't think that's your fault at all. If she didn't want to wait for you, then..." 

"Yeah," he sighed, raising his head again. "It just really hurt... watching her go off and do things with others that she hadn't done with me. Something like that. But still, I loved her even then." 

"My parents didn't like each other," she said. "They thought they were in love at one time, though. I think thats what happens when you go too fast... So maybe its better this way." 

"Maybe, yeah." A silent moment revealed that the rain was still tapping. He watched her as she continued to eat quietly, trying to muffle the noise of the crunches. "Sakura... she talked about you sometimes. Sometimes she would say 'wouldn't it be fun if my little sister could go to our school too?' and talk about how she would protect you from bullies and find you a nice boyfriend." 

Momo looked up. "Really?" she said. "She wanted to know me better too?" 

"Yeah," Rubedo replied. "Momo... before she went into her coma, she told me... that I should watch out for you for her. That's why... I wanted to talk to you so badly." 

MOMO stared wide-eyed, a chip held idle in her hand where she froze still. "She... she said that?" 

"Yeah." 

Momo closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "That's nice of you." Rubedo wondered if she would cry, but she just opened her eyes again and continued to eat. Soon she finished, and shook the bag to get all of the crumbs, obviously famished. 

"Are you still hungry?" he asked her. "I have some money, if you're that hungry I could take you to eat somewhere." 

She shook her head. "I don't want to be any trouble." 

"It's no trouble," he replied, standing up. "You don't need to look at it as a date either. Maybe... you can think of me as your older brother, since Sakura isn't here." 

Momo slowly raised her head and met eyes with him. They were friendly blue eyes. A small smile spread across her face. "Okay." She stood from her chair and threw the empty bag of chips away. "But... something cheap, I don't want to bother you, really." 

"I said it's no problem," he said with a laugh. "Oh yeah... I forgot to ask you, why did you move here? Sakura always told me she had a sister and that you were separated." 

She stopped as he began to walk, causing him to turn to see what the matter was. He wondered if he'd broken her fragile trust in him somehow, or if it was something else. She looked down at the floor, trying to fight back the emotions rising in her. "My father died." 

Rubedo stopped as well and looked at her sympathetically. "How did he die?" 

"Suicide." 

Rubedo stared back blankly for a moment. "I... I'm sorry..." 

Broken words began to tumble out of her mouth and she looked around at several different objects, but not at him. "When Sakura became ill he felt so guilty and tried to save her. But, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't find any cures for her. She fell into a coma before he could even say goodbye to her, before he could even let her know that he cared. He felt so horrible about abandoning her like he did when we were separated that he blamed himself for it all. Then he killed himself." Her voice began to waver. She hid her eyes behind her bangs again. "I... I guess I wasn't enough to keep him happy enough to live." 

Shock and appall marred his face as he raced through his thoughts for something to say, but there was nothing. 

She continued without him. "I was sent to live with my mother. But- she... doesn't like me." 

"Miss Juli doesn't like you?" he said, after taking a moment to register her story. "But why?" 

"Because... I loved my dad," she said, a sob coming out with the words. It was then that he realized she was crying. "She hates him. She says bad things about him whenever I'm around. And because I'm not Sakura... b-because I look like her but I'm not h-" 

Rubedo finally decided what he should do. He moved in one swift, fluid motion to capture the girl in his arms and hold her there close to him. She began to cry uncontrollably with her face pressed into his chest willingly. He grasped her shoulders as they shook with each sob and rubbed his hands over her back to calm her. Her body was still wet from the rain, and she was terribly thin. He could feel every rib as his hands passed down her sides. "You haven't cried this entire time, have you?" 

Momo didn't answer, accepting his embrace entirely. Her fingers tightened around the fabric of his shirt as her cries calmed and her tears fell gently, soaking into it. Moments passed in silence as the rain pattered on the roof, and the MP3 player charged, forgotten by its owner. Rubedo noticed that she had a sweet scent, familiar but not identical to the one belonging to the girl he once loved. Momo came to her senses, and opened her eyes still pressing her face against him. Her voice was still broken and came out as a whisper. "Why are you holding me this way?" 

"Because you looked like you needed someone to hold you," he said, keeping his voice low as well. "And... I could use someone to hold, myself." Momo sniffled again, trying not to break into tears anymore. "It's alright," he said. "You can cry... cry all that you want to." 

"I want to go home," she cried, sobs shaking her body again. "Take me home... to your home, any home..." 

He laughed softly and held her again, rocking back and forth gently. After she calmed down for the second time, he pulled her away and wiped her face with his hand to brush away the tear stains. "I think we should go to your home," he said. "Miss Juli's a good person. She's just torn up over Sakura, so she shut everyone who cares about her out. I'm sure she's worried sick over you." 

Momo nodded, still too choked up to speak. Her stomach growled loudly, answering for her. 

"And I happen to know that she cooks really well," he continued with a chuckle. "You're starving aren't you?" she nodded again, and followed him with her hands folded in front of her in embarrassment over how she had broken down. 

He led her outside with a hand placed tenderly on her shoulder and held the umbrella over her head as she stepped into the passenger seat of his car. She still seemed hesitant, but now out of modesty and not fear. "Thank you... for everything." 

"Don't worry about it." He knew the path to her house very well. They were silent for the most part as they drove, but not uncomfortable. Momo didn't cry anymore. They pulled into the driveway of a familiar house as the rain thinned and stepped up to the door. Momo stood behind Rubedo meekly as he knocked. 

The door opened revealing a middle-aged woman with unkempt brown hair and dark bags under her eyes. She looked back at him in shock at first. "Rubedo, what are you-" then her eyes fell on Momo. She forgot sbout him entirely and rushed past, throwing her arms around the girl. "Momoko!" she said, tears forming in her eyes. "Oh, thank god you're safe..." 

Momo displayed no small amount of surprise. "M-mom?" She had never before been embraced in such a way by her own mother. It was a surreal moment for her when her mother stood holding another daughter she thought she may have lost. 

"I think she likes to be called 'Momo,'" Rubedo said softly, smiling at the reuion. 

"Oh, Rubedo," she looked up at him while still holding Momo. "Thank you so much... I can never thank you enough..." 

"It's no problem," he said, scratching his head awkwardly. "I just ran into her. It's not like I was uh... searching town for her or anything." 

Momo hid a smile, knowing that he must have been lying. "Yes," she said. "Thank you." 

"Come out of the rain," Juli insisted. "You look so tired and hungry and those are the same clothes you had on three days ago..." 

"Okay," she said. "But... could I talk to Rubedo for a minute?" 

Juli glanced between them both before speaking again. "Of course." 

"Yeah," Rubedo laughed. "Go get this girl some food, she's hungry!" 

Juli made an effort to smile, though intense guilt was still apparent on her face, then left the door open as she went back inside. Momo turned to him and smiled, placing her hands behind her back modestly. A slight pink blush appeared on her face. "I have to tell you," she said. "Sakura wrote me one time. She said she knew a sweet boy... who was made for me. She said she would introduce us one day." 

He blinked back at her, not sure of what to say. In the moment that he was stunned, she pulled close to him and place a small, chaste kiss on his lips. He went from mild shock to total paralyzation. A moment later he recovered and coughed. "What did you do that for?" 

"It just looked like you needed it." 


	6. Entry 7 make you mine

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 7!

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Notes from 100-series:  
Okay so this fic takes place in the same universe as previous chapter Adults" that was entry number 2 in case you want to go back and look. This might be OOC again but its kind of my take on what would happen if Jr. grows into his real age, and MOMO begins to _feel_ older but can't grow, herself. So remember MOMO's feelings are newly developed ones and I'm not trying to say that's how she feels in the game.

Other News:  
WOW. I had a lot to do this month. I just looked up and it was the 30th and remembered I had to turn one of these in. Anyway, I did so I'm not kicked out hopefully. Thank you to everyone who left me a review. I read every one of them! It helps. Oh, and Find Us peace will be back in the near future, it isn't dead. Sayonara err... I dunno.

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**"New Hurt"**  
30kisses Challenge #26: if only I could make you mine  
Description: Alternate Universe Xenosaga 3, over a year after Xenosaga 2's end, after Golden Bullet entry #2  
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)

MOMO laid in her bed next to Shion's, blankets crumpled around her small body. He was on her mind again. She couldn't seem to stop thinking about it, and in the dark when a realian didn't really need to sleep, it was very hard not to. She shuddered, remembering an event from the day.

_"I adjusted the Asher's settings for you!" MOMO said cheerily, bouncing around at Jr.'s heels. He looked down at her from his new height and smiled._

"Thanks," he said. "That'll help out a lot!"

Then he reached down and patted MOMO on her head. He patted her head like she was a child, his little sister perhaps. She froze stiff where she stood and turned red in embarrassment, not the warm kind that she felt when Jr. had kissed her face, but a painful sort. It hurt. He didn't notice at all, and continued to the hangar to inspect what she'd repaired on his craft so lovingly. 

She curled into a fetal position, interesting, considering that she had never been in a womb. She was imprinted with habits like this one, and that might have been why her heart fluttered when she saw the red-haired man, even though a man he was, and a child she remained.

Rather than torture herself feigning sleep, she decided to stand up and walk around the Elsa. She rose from the bed without waking Shion and exited the women's quarters. Out in the hallway, though there was lighting in case the Elsa ran into an emergency during the night and the crew needed to scramble, it was eerily dark and quiet.

She poked her head into the bridge to find Captain Matthews asleep in his rising chair, snoring loudly. No one else was around. The stars on the viewing monitor were passing by just as steadily as ever. She wondered how much longer it would take to reach their destination, a place where they would fight again. It was both Ziggy and Jr.'s destiny to fight, and so her destiny would also be to fight. That is what she decided. 

Putting that thought aside, she returned to the hallway. She walked past the mens' quarters where Hammer, Tony, chaos, Ziggy and Jin were sleeping. She didn't dare go in, since Ziggy would sense her immediately and see her back to bed. She loved Ziggy, and didn't mind for him to treat her like a daughter, but she didn't feel like being treated like a child tonight.

The hall stretched onwards past the room she feared her steps would eventually lead her, the place where Jr. was treated for his aging and then claimed as his own. He offered it to the ladies first of course, but they claimed that sleeping in their room together was more comfortable. It was, most of the time, but tonight MOMO felt lonely in a way that wasn't mended by her friend's presence. Neither did she feel that crawling into Ziggy's lap to sleep would help her. She wanted a different kind of companionship that was neither friend nor father. _But I can't have that can I? Because children aren't supposed to need that... why do I want it? Why was I created this way?_

Moving out of a whim without a thought, she approached the door and entered the code to open it. Pitch blackness filled the inside though she could see perfectly thanks to her inhuman qualities. It was a very small room with one bed. The inhabitant within was curled into a fetal position as well, though he had been artificially created as much as she had. 

His face was harder than it had been, but his expression was peaceful and he seemed child-like as always. When he first changed that gave her a start, but it didn't turn her away anymore. Now she felt more accustomed to it, and endeared the new lines of his chin and nose. As she watched him breathing steadily, a warmth washed over her that she was unfamiliar with. Suddenly she thought that she would like to touch those new features. When she realized that, she looked away in shame. _Why did I think such a thing?_

Raising her head again coming to terms with the feeling, she approached the bed and kneeled down beside it. He snored just ever so quietly and his mouth hung open, sure to get drool on the pillow. _I'm glad that you can sleep so soundly,_ she thought to herself. _I can't. I'm thinking of you, and how we're not the same anymore._ Talking like this even though it was only in her head helped her to feel more at ease. She laid her chin on the edge of the bed, feeling much more at peace. _You said I would grow someday, but I want to be grown now. I want to stay here with you._

When he began to stir, she panicked and did a selfish thing. She used her ether powers to send him back to slumber. Though she felt some guilt over it, she would rather feel guilty than have him find her watching him. Because he was thoroughly sedated at this point and the damage had been done, she gave into her desire and touched his cheek with her small fingers, tracing over the curves of his face and brushing through the cherry red hair that she loved so much.

_This is a horrible thing to do. It doesn't mean anything if its not your will. I'd do anything for that... If only I could somehow stay with you, and make you mine._

Though her logical side was telling her these things, something else was speaking to her. It was something that many realians didn't have the fortune of experiencing, or in some cases the burden of worrying about. Her heart was telling her to do something. She leaned forward, not entirely sure what she was doing, and kissed the skin that was closest to her, which happened to be the tip of his nose.

_Why did I do that?_

She came to her senses shortly thereafter, and scolded herself for what she had done. She left the room and retreated down the hall, back into her quarters with Shion who hadn't stirred at all. She crept into her bed and covered her head under the blanket, her face turning red in the dark the more she thought about it.

_Is it a program to make me more human? Is it something fake? Or am I in love?_

(yeeeah corny ending, whooo...)


	7. entry 8 superstar

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 7!

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Notes from 100-series:  
This is just a silly idea that I had and the general reaction was "omg, you have to make a fic out of that!" and so I did. It went with one of the kiss themes really well, so I used it as one. This fics contains a song that I wrote but in the story it was supposed to be written by MOMO, so I didn't worry about its overwhelming corniness.

Other News:  
I'm so busy with christmas stuff, whoo! I really need to update a million things. But I did this instead err... oh well!

* * *

**"Artificial Idol"**  
30kisses Challenge #7 - Superstar (The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)  
Description: After Xenosaga 2, but this will never happen so it doesn't really matter.

A buxom blonde-haired young woman with stylishly oversized glasses sat in a plush chair across from another just like it inside half of a room used as the set for a talk show on Second Miltia. Next to her, a brunette man of the same age group, probably the late twenties, sat in an identical chair. His hair was disorderly in a way that must have taken hours to get just perfect. Facing them was a third chair filled by a small pink-haired girl who wore a brightly colored red and white dress for this interview.

"So, Momo!" the young woman said, and grinned mischievously at the realian in front of her. "The number one thing your fans want to know about is the inspiration for your songs. Is there anything you can tell us about the story behind those heartbroken lyrics?"

"Oh," the girl said, and a light shade of pink appeared on her face as she raised one hand from her lap to touch her cheek. "They aren't all heartbroken! They're about the people I've met on my journeys. In fact, I hope that I can spread happiness to others, not sadness." 

"Come on now Momo," the woman said playfully. "With song titles like 'Death is Rest for the Soul' and 'A Machine Must Not Feel' you've gained yourself a reputation as the most downtrodden pop singer ever!" She added a fake laugh to show that she was _just kidding._

"Well, those songs are for my friends," the girl said in a modest, almost shameful tone. "'Queen's Kiss' is a happy one about the time I spent fighting alongside my best friend. 'Gaurdian Angel' was meant to be inspiring, its about a young man who is always there to guide me when I need some help. So they aren't all sad."

"But your number one hit 'Hold My Heart'," the man said, "it seems like there's some guy out there who you really like. Your fans are going crazy trying to figure out who it could be, and several young men throughout the star cluster have even received hate mail from those who think they've nabbed the guy!"

"Oh no!" MOMO gasped, and bashfully placed her hands against her cheeks. "I wish they wouldn't do that. I want only to spread understanding to others, not to put blame on anyone. Besides, I'd be so embarrassed if he ever heard the song. To tell the truth, I wish it hadn't become so popular."

The young woman leading the interview laughed again and waved her hand at MOMO. "You're just too much!" she said. "Saving the galaxy one moment, on stage the next, but now you're to tell us that you're too shy to tell a guy you like him?"

"Uh-huh!" MOMO nodded, a blush appearing on her face. "But I suppose if he's watching this, he'll know, right?"

"Can I ask you one more thing before we break?" she asked.

"What's that?"

The young woman turned to the camera and winked. "Would you blow a kiss to him, and to our audience for us?"

"Oh! Okay!" MOMO looked into the camera, kissed the palm of her hand, a puffed her lips to blow on it. The audience cheered in delight as the announcer stated that they'd be right back with more on Momo Mizrahi.

Only hours later, the UMN channels were flooded with chatter concerning the overnight hit wonder, Momo Mizrahi. In the Number One Beautiful Momo Fan Club Chat Room, several of the most respected fans and some random entries discussed the matter.

- - -

Number One Beautiful Momo Fan Club Chat Room: 

**Momolover123:** Did you guys see Miltia Morning Talk?  
**SuperMOMO: **Yup!  
**DeathisRest:** Yeah, she was really cute. She's just as cute in person as she is on stage.  
**SuperMOMO: **Momo is never NOT cute.  
**Momolover123: **lol so true  
**SuperMOMO: **Oh yeah! They almost almost got her to say who her boyfriend is!  
**DeathisRest: **Poor Momo. She looked so embarrassed.  
**SuperMOMO: **That makes her more cute doesn't it? Anyway I'm dying to solve the mystery.  
**Momolover123:** Well, there were a few clues dropped. They said he's definitely a 'he' and that he's a very busy person.  
**_RoxQueen has joined chat on on Sun Sep 11, 2005 2:29 pm_**  
**RoxQueen: **What r u guys talkin bout?  
**DeathisRest: **the talk show with momo on it. anyway, so maybe it is somebody from the foundation like we thought!  
**SuperMOMO: **What if it's Gaignun Kukai himself?  
**Momolover123: **He's hawt.  
**DeathisRest: **He's also 26... MOMO is 12, remember?  
**RoxQueen:** LOL ROFL   
**Momolover123: **So! Momo is a realian, so she's older than she looks!  
**_SeraphimSistersfan#1 has joined chat on on Sun Sep 11, 2005 2:42 pm_**  
**SeraphimSistersfan#1:** You morons have no idea what your talkin about.  
**DeathisRest**: What, are you a Seraphim Sisters fan here to bash Momo?  
**SeraphimSistersfan#1:** NO! Momo is just as cute as the Sisters, ya moron! I came on here to give you idiots a clue, since you ain't got no idea who her boyfriend is.  
**Momolover123:** Oh, like you know!  
**SeraphimSistersfan#1:** I do! Because, I happen to know Momo in person.  
**RoxQueen:** AHA YEAH RIGHT LMFAO  
**SeraphimSistersfan#1:** I got you some pictures of her right here, before she became a star. UMNGTFC:SSrule.umn/momo 

The chat-goers opened the listed channel, and to their amazement they found several authentic-looking pictures of Momo Mizrahi in her Mizrahi Labs realian uniform against a background of what appeared to be a small cruise ship. After the initial shock wore off, they realized the more interesting fact. With her in most of the pictures was a red-haired boy of about the same age, laughing and joking and making Momo herself laugh.

**DeathisRest:** Whoa, this guy might be for real.  
**Momolover123:** Ooooooh so Kyoot! That red-head must be the one, he's so cute!  
**SeraphimSistersfan#1:** Told ya! Now lets be friends and share some upskirts of popstars okay?  
**_SeraphimSistersfan#1 has logged out on on Sun Sep 11, 2005 2:53 pm_**  
**Momolover123:** Huh? Where'd he go?

Suddenly, Captain Matthews' UMN connection was cut off. "The hell?" he cringed. "Hey! chaos!"

Chaos smiled back at him, having _accidently_ pulled the plug. "You know... taking pictures of someone without their permission is bad karma, captain."

"Hey, they were on the security monitors!" Matthews said in his defense. "She wouldn't mind... and hey," he leaned over and nudged the silver-haired boy. "I have some of that chickie robot you like! How bout it?"

Chaos only shook his head in dismay, and left the bridge.

- - -

Director Gaignun Kukai entered his brother's office early in the afternoon. He found the red-haired URTV staring mouth-agape at the UMN screen in front of him. "Who-who're they talking about?" he growled aloud, not realizing that Gaignun had entered.

Gaignun arched a brow and recognized the celebrity through the back of the translucent screen. "Is that the Miltia Morning Show?" It was airing for the second time of the day. That was not what Gaignun found odd however, but more that his brother was actually watching such a program instead of sticking his nose in a book.

"What the- Gaignun!" he looked up at his brother in alarm. "Momo is on this show! They're saying she's some kinda pop idol or something!" 

"Yes," Gaignun replied, wondering why this news was so shocking. "Her debut show sold out, after all. Are you surprised?"

"Show?" Jr. coughed. "What show?"

"You're telling me you didn't know?" Gaignun groaned. "Honestly?"

Jr.'s face was bright red as he stared back at his younger but much taller brother with blue cat-like eyes wide in embarassment. "Well it's not like I listen to pop music!"

"What about the billboard in Sector 5? And the posters? Were you just looking at the ground?" 

"I dunno!" Jr. honestly didn't.

Gaignun was an inch away from laughing hysterically, but he kept a straight face and leaned over Jr.'s connection terminal. He typed in a few keywords, and in no time, bought Momo's album over the UMN. "Here, listen," he said. "Her top song is 'Hold Onto My Heart' or something to that effect."

Jr. stared blankly in a daze as the music began to play. MOMO's voice was sweet, but sad as she sang the lyrics in a forlorn tone. Her voice rose softly from gentle whispers to strong emotional notes and then hushed again.

_What if I met you first?  
Would you love me that way?  
If we had kindred hearts,  
Like in my dreams someday_

It's okay if it hurts,  
know that I'll never cry  
as long as you promise me,  
that somehow after we die

if we could all be reborn  
you'd never more feel torn  
and it could be my turn,  
to be the one for whom you yearn

not just an imitation  
not just a fabrication 

I'd hold you,  
and be the one whose heart you hold 

"Nice, for her first song, isn't it?" Gaignun said, rubbing his chin in thought. "The lyrics are certainly overdone and a tad clichŽ, but thats what the youth wants to hear. Hmm... maybe we should ask her to play here. We'd rake in an enormous profit at New Years..." 

Jr. didn't hear him as he continued to ramble on about business, too blown away by the entire realization to comprehend much at all. Suddenly he snapped to attention, and his confusion turned to anger. "Who the hell is she singing about?" he grumbled. "If this guy is treating her like that, I'm gonna find him and kick his ass! Gimme that fan-site address, I'm gonna look into this!" 

Gaignun shook his head as Jr. began to type away, releasing his frustration onto the poor keyboard. It was simply not worth trying to explain.


	8. entry 9 violence pillageplunder extor

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 9!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:  
Here's an idea I had, unrelated to the others. It starts off in the middle of something, just random... I could probably make a multi-chapter fic all about this if I didn't do it that way. I'm not trying to work in theory stuff like I think its actually going to happen, I just like to play with the ideas I've got.

Other News:  
I have finished a lot of 30kisses entries and I'm going to try to upload them soon! I will have up to 15 at least. Half-way, whoo! Oh yeah, and I opened a forum. Come check it out if you just want to talk about stuff.

* * *

**"Hacker"**  
30kisses Challenge #21 violence; pillage/plunder; extortion (The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)  
Description: Sequel/AU of XS3/whatever you want to call it

He kneeled to the ground in the void with MOMO in his arms writhing and dying as he held her tightly. The small girl twitched and released small, painful moans. Sitting facing him was Shion, who shared his agony to the fullest extent; and standing only a few feet away KOS-MOS, who could not feel it though somewhere inside she was trying. There was a fourth person present in the vortex of despair, a tall ivory-haired man with eyes the color of blood.

"Why?" he asked. The words were forced out of his mouth with all the rage and ferocity of a cornered animal. Shion flinched, and tears began rolling from her eyes. 

"There is still a small fragment of the key to Lost Jerusalem inside of the girl," Wilhelm said. "Albedo did not dig deep enough to retrieve it, he only opened the seal around Miltia, to free U-DO and the Zohar. However, the Y-DATA is more than an access code. Deep within her psyche, past the layers that seperate one consiousness from another, in the unconscious domain... that which binds all souls the the eternal circle, the Unus-Mundus... that is where we will find the answer, and the key to making Abel's Ark reappear."

"The Unus-Mundus?" Jr. said. "The UMN? What in the hell are you talking about? MOMO doesn't have the Y-DATA anymore!"

"No," he replied. "All that was held in herself was stolen or damaged, yet there remains a vital piece within someone else... and the only way to find it is through her. She's a doorway, a connection, like the emulators that Mizrahi created, she's a tool that reaches to something larger." 

"Don't you dare call her a tool!" Jr. barked, and held the small girl's body closer. His chest heaved as his breaths constricted under the stress of the situation. "I don't understand what you're saying, just tell me what I have to do to save her!"

"You URTVs have the power to manipulate the spiritual link," Wilhelm continued. "You must find it. You are the only one who can, before its too late. Not even the UMN center would be able to delve deep enough. That is precisely why I have willed you to be here at this time and place."

"You mean... you want me to... do that to her?" Jr.'s eyes were wide as the memory of another spiritual link bond MOMO had been forced to endure not so long ago, especially not so long ago in his mind. The image of white claws digging deep into her flesh flashed into his brain where it burned into his retinas, and he began to shake in fear just as he had then. He clutched the realian's small frame tightly in his arms and pressed his eyes shut. "No... He hurt her. He scarred her! I'll never do that to her!"

MOMO's golden eyes opened weakly. Her voice was a broken whisper. "Jun..." 

He reopened his eyes to her with all the anger removed, and gave her only the gentlest expression. "Don't talk okay?" he said, and patted her cheek with his hand to keep her from falling unconscious again. "Everything's going to be fine." 

"Its... okay," MOMO said, and struggled to raise her hand to his. "You can... if it's you... it won't hurt..." 

He winced, as if the words had stabbed him in the heart. _You should try it, Rubedo. I'm sure she'd be happy to, if it was you..._

"No," Jr. cried, "Don't listen to him, there's got to be another way."

"Jr.," Shion said. She held his shoulder in her left hand and looked into his troubled eyes. Her own were so filled with tears that she could hardly see him "Please... if you don't, she's going to die!"

KOS-MOS took a step closer to the three of them and spoke flatly. "The barrier placed on the passageway to the unconscious can only be broken when all parties existing within MOMO are in consent. I give consent. Shion gives consent. MOMO gives consent. Therefore, there is no logical reason not to continue with the operation."

"...the hell?" Jr. muttered and looked up at the red-eyed android. "What do you... you and Shion? What the hell do you two have to do with it?"

Shion returned his accusing expression with a dumbfounded look, turned to look at KOS-MOS, then at Jr. again. Wilhelm watched, sparked interest not displayed on his face in the least, though it was there.

The android blinked her red eyes. "The protection barrier on the deepest layer of the 100-series realian is only to be broken when I relent access. Gaignun Jr., you will not harm MOMO in your attempt. This will not be a hacking attempt, but rather, an allowed access."

Shion stood and looked straight into KOS-MOS's face. "What are you talking about?"

"Our time is limited," she responded. "Please... put your trust in us, and in MOMO. It is the only logical course of action at this point."

"MOMO's not some kind of computer," Jr. said through heavy breaths. "Even if I don't have to break in... it's wrong to go inside another person like that... it's wrong... to plunder a soul, it's wrong!"

Shion reached for him and took his hand. "Please," she said. She did not know why or how she had the power to do this, but she felt in her heart that she could save MOMO. "We'll do it together. We won't hurt her... I promise." She smiled warmly, tears fading. "We'll all go back to the foundation together, and we can buy MOMO and KOS-MOS some ice cream. Won't... won't that be funny?"

With her encouragement, he felt somewhat relieved. He swallowed hard and nodded, squeezing back on his friend's hand. "Okay," he said. "We'll do it."

His hand began to glow with Shions a pearly, shimmery, light. MOMO's body became relaxed, pain suddenly eased as his hand touched her chest just below her collarbone. He closed his eyes, racked with guilt, as his fingers transcended the fabric of her suit, and then her flesh. "I am sorry... please forgive me." 

Memories and feelings began to form in his mind. They were MOMO's and not his own, though through the link he could feel it just as if they were. He tried not to look. These were private thoughts. He tried not to see, but she beckoned him further. _It's okay, I'll share these things with you._

There was a man looking up at him, or rather at MOMO, as she hung unborn in the heart of Proto Merkabah. "If you do good deeds," he said. "Then some day you will truly become human. You can become my Sakura." Hearing those words, he felt enraged that someone could be so heartless as to give MOMO that false hope, and that duty. But MOMO's feelings all around him were only positive, warm and loving.

The memory faded away and another took its place. MOMO looked the same as the day he had first seen her, but the blurriness of this memory gave him the impression that it happened long ago. She was sitting on a bed in a little white room, looking out a small window. Through it, he could tell that it was raining. There was intense fascination surrounded by longing attached to this memory.

A woman he knew well entered the room. Though it was obvious to him that this brown-haired woman was looking at MOMO like some kind of abomination, but the emotion that hit him like a crashing wave was pure excitement. "Mommy!" she cried. Juli Mizrahi cringed, as did Jr. but for different reasons. "Mommy, may I go outside?" MOMO asked, sheepishly. "I have never seen rain before..." 

"No," the woman replied in a stiff tone. "It's dangerous outside. You must remain here. Is that really all that you wanted to ask me?"

"I'm sorry!" MOMO apologized. Jr. struggled to understand why the girl felt so guilty. "I thought we could go together..."

Juli Mizrahi hesitated. She looked not just hateful this time, but sad. "I'm too busy for such things," she replied coldly, and turned to leave.

Then Jr. found himself in a place he knew more than well. It was the containment area. Shion and the others were all standing around him. This was that time before he realized that MOMO was special, more than a copy.

"Brilliant? He was a lunatic." MOMO flinched, but he hadn't noticed at that time. _Why didn't I realize that I hurt her? Why did I just keep talking?_ Even still, MOMO's feelings were not of animosity, they were directed at herself: guilt, self-doubt, grief. "Unable to bear his curiosity, he invited the Gnosis into our world." MOMO left the room alone. Jr. was angry, this time at himself.

_Why are you only looking at the sad memories?_

Jr. felt the scene wash away like water poured over a fresh painting. "I didn't mean to look," he replied. "I've brought nothing but hate and destruction here. You look at the world through such innocent eyes, and you give. Even when you've got nothing left, you keep giving. When I see those memories, all I can feel is hate." 

"And you," she replied. "You always keep confronting what lies in your way! That is why I admire you." 

Jr. clenched his fists and cast his eyes away from her presence. He could not see her, and at the same time he could not bear to look at her. "That's just an idealistic way of saying I'm a tyrant," he said. "I just... force my will onto other people, make them go my way."

MOMO took his hand. He raised his hand to see her form radiantly, as a vision. She placed his hand against her cheek and closed her eyes. "You should... remember this too," she said quietly.

"Remember what?"

"You touched my face so gently," she said. "I never forgot it. I always wanted to feel it again." Her eyes opened again, and she looked up at him bashfully. "I guess I can't keep my thoughts to myself when you are here." 

Jr. stared back speechlessly for a moment, and then took back his hand. "I shouldn't be here!" he said, flustered. "I'm a conquerer, I was born just to steal the life out of others, I'm here only because I had to hurt you to get what everybody wants! I-" 

He stopped speaking as she placed her arms around him. At least, that is what it felt like to him, though it seemed like they were not touching each other. "I know," she whispered. "And I am weak, a person who can only become what others need, and never do things for myself. We are both incomplete people, you and me." 

Warmth and light enveloped him, as if he was lying peacefully in the sun. His body relaxed, his tension released.

"Please... let's be together. Take everything that I want to give, and lets go back..."

Jr. returned her embrace, and allowed himself to accept her tender warmth. He shared a feeling with her that could only be expressed as love, innocent and equal, like a kiss.

Then, a pulse. MOMO's body, her mind, and her spirit resonated. Something inside, past herself, past Jr.'s self, and through that which bound them together, along with Shion, their friends, and every other soul in existence, living and dead. Sakura, Albedo... It pulsed, and then everything seemed to fall apart.

The next thing that Jr. was fully aware of was lying on a slab of warm concrete looking up at the setting sun. His head ached. He couldn't remember what had happened. Struggling to get to his feet, he remembered one thing. MOMO was with him.

"Jr.!" she called out, and ran towards him. Their eyes met, and neither could remember exactly what had occurred. All the same, something lingered there. "I'm so glad you're alright," she said, helping him to his feet.

"Yeah," he replied. "Are you?" His hand reached out and touched the side of her face. She smiled warmly, and nodded.

A third, flatly mechanical voice interrupted them. "MOMO, Jr.," KOS-MOS said. They turned to find her staring back at them with dull red eyes as usual. Behind her was a familiar building, the U-TIC headquarters. Jr. and MOMO glanced at their feet, and stepped back in alarm. They were standing on the surface of the Song of Nephilim, which lied under the ground on Miltia. "We are currently inside Shion's subconscious domain," KOS-MOS explained.

"Oh yeah!" Jr. remembered. "Shion! She was trying to help me... what happened to her?"

"We are currently inside an encephalon area which exists within Shion," the android replied. "Please follow me. We must locate the Y-DATA." 

"Inside..." Jr.'s eyes grew wider as realization sunk in. "Shion? Our Shion? The Y-DATA?"

KOS-MOS just walked away, leaving the two in their confusion. After a moment, they caught up. KOS-MOS led them straight into Labyrinthos.


	9. entry 10 our own world

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 10!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:  
This one is way too much the angst. A lot of people dig the angst though, and I'm trying to do one in as many different modes as possible. I'll do a funny one next, I promise.

Other News:  
Umm... nothing to report, except I am trying to claim Xenosaga for fanfic100 to work on after this is done. I'm crazy!

* * *

**"The Next World"**  
30kisses Challenge #8: Our Own World (The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)

Description: This entry is a continuation of "Adults (#28: Calcium)" and "New Hurt (#26: if only I could make you mine)" please regard them all as scenes from an alternate reality Xenosaga 3.

_This world just isn't made for us. It's as if it has always tried to expel us, its never been inviting for us. Maybe its because neither of us is human. I don't understand it, but I was happy for those moments with you where I felt that I belonged._

"MOMO and Shion," Jr. said in a heavy tone, looking at the two female members of the party excluding KOS-MOS. Their group stood outside of the Elsa in front of a massive gateway. "I want the two of you to stay on the Elsa. The enviroment inside this place is going to be unbearable."

Shion was the first to protest, but stopped when Jin placed his hand gently on her shoulder. "He's right," the dark-haired man said in his cool tone. Shion gave him an unpleasant face, until he continued. "I can't go either. Every human being who steps into that place begins to turn into a Gnosis... not to mention that it's hotter than our bodies can handle for long. You and I had best stay on the Elsa as he says."

Shion clenched her fists. "But-"

"I think they can handle matters on their own," Jr. assured her. Jr. nodded in agreement, Ziggy did the same.

"Well I'm going!" announced MOMO demandingly. This called attention from everyone. They had never seen her with such a furious expression on her face, as if she'd stolen Shion's tenacious persistence. She looked at Ziggy and then at Jr., both who were sure to object. "I'm a realian, I can make it farther than either of you can," she said. "And it takes a realian to open these passageways. KOS-MOS isn't even able to do it."

Jr.'s mind raced for an excuse for her not to go. But it was true, the Zohar system needed realian hosts to control it-small, innocent, female realians just like MOMO. His eyebrows furrowed as he imagined MOMO in one of those caskets with no legs or arms, bound cruelly to a life more painful than hell. He shook his head as if to physically dislodge the mental picture. "We can find some other way to-"

KOS-MOS felt the need to interject. "There is no hope of proceeding in the most efficient manner without MOMO's assistance. These barriers were designs specifically with both the URTV and myself in mind. It is unlikely that either of us will be able to open them."

Ziggy glanced at him and nodded in agreement with the android. "Don't count her out simply because of your personal feelings," he said, reminding Jr. of the first time they'd argued. This time however, he had grown enough to know that the _old man_ was right.

"Yeah," he said hesitantly, and his eyes met MOMO's. He wanted to smile to encourage everyone as he always did, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. There was a pit in his stomach. "I know. Come on, I'll protect you."

MOMO's face lightened and she smiled weakly at all of them. "Thank you."

chaos had been silent the entire time, absorbed in deeper thoughts. "I'm sorry," he said. They looked up to him, wondering what was troubling the strange youth. "I won't be joining you. There's something... that I must take care of." 

Jr. started after him as he began to walk away. "Hey... chaos!" The silver-haired boy walked away, and then... nothing. chaos vanished. "What?" he muttered with his eyes wide open, looking at the empty space that chaos had disappeared into. "Where in the hell did he go?"

Jin approached the young man. "He has his own battle to wage. Just have faith in him." Jr. gave him a quizzical expression, but let the matter go. Jin nodded. "You have your task and he has his. I'll protect Shion in the meantime."

Jr. gave the older man a pat on the shoulder. "Sure thing," he said, and turned to the others. "Well, let's get moving. MOMO, you're on support. KOS-MOS, take the rear and see that MOMO isn't hurt."

The red-eyed android blinked. "Affirmative. MOMO, please access the gateway terminal."

MOMO was already moving towards it. The monolithic golden gate was almost as threatening as the Zohar itself in appearance, but she was brave and approached it with no fear. As she placed her hand on the glowing pad to access it's commands, something reached out to grab her.

_The weak will perish. This world is for the strong._

Her golden eyes opened wide and she squeaked in alarm. Jr. rushed towards her. "What is wrong?"

"Nothing," MOMO said, as she entered the command to open the gate. The large structure pulled back. Jr. was not convinced, but knew that they had to move forward. 

They stepped into the abysmal labyrinth that led to the Zohar. Their trials and their enemies lay before them.

* * *

A life and death situation faced them. Ziggy had long been separated from the party, leaving Jr. with KOS-MOS and MOMO. The atmosphere in the golden hallways grew more intense by the second. While KOS-MOS was having no trouble, the heat and the ever present essence that threatened to turn all mortals to salt made Jr.'s steps sluggish. MOMO was having a hard time of it as well, but as a realian, she would could not be made into a Gnosis.

Though he had faith that Ziggy had made his way to safety, Jr. had no idea where chaos had disappeared to once again after their encounter with _Wilhelm_ of all people. He didn't want to know. He would lead KOS-MOS and MOMO to safety, and thats all that he wanted to think about doing right now.

They came to a halt as they reached a command core, highly guarded. It laid between them and the path to the Elsa. The other ways had been blocked or destroyed. There was only the route through this chamber, but through the window over the door, they could see that the will of U-DO was controlling the inside. Nano machines spiraled out of control defying all laws of physics, forming a crust on the door.

MOMO looked ahead confidently. Though KOS-MOS might be faster, she was the only one who held the ability to open the way, ad KOS-MOS could not be sacrificed at any cost. Without her, all of existence would have no hope.

She looked up at Jr., who was now a tall, full-grown man. She applied his endearing features to memory once more and wished that somehow she could be with him. "I can open it," she said. "And... from there I can repair the environmental settings and stop this catastrophe. You will all be able to escape safely."

"Going in _there_?" Jr. said in disbelief. MOMO expected that reaction, and didn't let the bite in his tone affect her. "I can't let you do that." He looked to KOS-MOS to back him up with some factual data, but she could not find any. She was searching every possible route for another way or another method, but there were none. She kept checking, as if even she wanted to believe that there was some other way.

MOMO cast her eyes away and made a move for the door. Jr. grabbed her wrist firmly. "Do not go in there," he said firmly. He looked at her small figure, a deep concern growing in his eyes. "Its... that's just suicide." 

MOMO was silent for a lingering moment and took her arm back from him. She returned to his side and tugged on his sleeve as if pleading to whisper something to him. He leaned over to see what it was she wanted. "Sorry," she said in a breath against his ear. Then she reached up on the tip of her toes and kissed him, touching his lips for just a brief second before she backed away. She used the moment of his surprise to her advantage, and fled from their presence, unable to look at him anymore. Jr. ran after her just as she swung the door open and flew into the chamber. A blast of heat knocked him back as he tried to follow. Even as a URTV, it was too much for him to handle. She slammed the door shut and locked it tight again.

"No!" Jr. cried, and beat his fists against the surface of it. "MOMO! Open this door now!"

"I'm sorry," MOMO replied, softly. "I can't do that." Her voice was barely audible through the electronic com system as she pressed through the room and found the control panel she needed. Microscopic machines under U-DO's control formed small blades and flew at her. They gave her light scratches on her face and her thighs were her skin was bare, but were unable to hinder her. She ran to the console and began to operate it. Quickly she learned that as she expected, only a link to the Zohar itself would stop it from going out of control. She had to quell its power with her own consciousness.

Jr. watched the blurry screen in horror as she merged into the console becoming a realian control system, wires digging into her flesh. His mind raced trying to think of what to do, but every thought failed him. He could only yell her name and beat against the door.

"I know this will hurt you. But... it's okay. You did great... You have become such a wonderful man. You kept your promise just fine, and I won't make you promise anything else. You won't be burdened anymore. You'll be free."

"MOMO!" Jr. screamed in anguish as his body began to pulse with anger in his desperation, forming a visible aura of crimson around him. KOS-MOS detected the rising level of power and determined that this outburst may pose a threat to the current operation. He would sooner destroy the entire area than allow MOMO to sacrifice herself. Even the fabric of time would soon fall to his unchecked rage, and that was unacceptable. Extending her mysterious blue field, she quelled his force and placed her arms around his body.

The young man hardly noticed her presence as he continued to scream. Inside the chamber, MOMO closed her eyes listening to his cries. They hurt more than the pain she was subjected to. Her hair began to float around her face and her clothing burst into flame until on the monitor, she looked like something that belonged to another world, glowing golden. 

Jr. struggled in vain against KOS-MOS's gentle but unyielding grip. The android watched with unfeeling eyes, though as she saw the tears stream down his face, something was moved even in her artificial heart. He continued to scream and call out her name and kick and flail until his voice was hoarse and his body was bruised. 

"This world was not inviting for any of us, but... if we meet again someday," MOMO said, though Jr. may not had have heard her through his own cries, "We'll have our own world. I hope that I'll be a woman. Yes... we'll meet again- in another- in our own-" The monitor displaying the scene suddenly scrambled as its limit was reached inside the chamber.

"God damn it KOS-MOS!" Jr. screamed. "Let me go! Stop her! She'll die!" 

KOS-MOS did not obey, and watched as the safety level ascended into the thirty percent region, which would allow them safe passage to the Elsa. She held Jr. in her arms as he still fought, knowing that MOMO's body was already disintegrated beyond recognition. In her electronic brain, millions of scenarios were checked to see if there was any chance of a different result depending on their actions, but none were found. The equation was balanced but to her, it seemed impossible. If she was created to be a weapon, then why did an innocent being have to face destruction to protect her? Jr. began to realize the gravity of the situation himself, and his crying ceased. He stopped moving completely, even his breath grew still.

KOS-MOS held his body to her chest tenderly, supporting all of his weight, and closed her eyes. He fell against her weakly, eyes wide open framing small and unfocused pupils. Her eyelids parted again against the skin of his neck, revealing azure blue orbs that matched his own in hue and brightness. Her face was painted with pain and sympathy.

"Relinquish your pain unto me."

Jr. screamed, releasing the last of himself into the sound, until nothing more remained and he fell unconscious in the android's arms. The blue-eyed KOS-MOS cradled him for a moment, and then placed him on the ground gently. With the safety levels reaching an acceptable percentage, she opened the room to the chamber.

* * *

The door of the Elsa slid open, revealing KOS-MOS holding the red-haired URTV's unconscious body. She did not struggle at all under his weight though his head and limbs hung limply on either side, bobbing slightly with her steps. The android's eyes were glowing a bright crimson as usual, but there was something unusual about them. They expressed something reminiscent of guilt and regret. 

"KOS-MOS!" Shion greeted her in alarm. "What happened? Ziggy said he was separated from you! Where's MOMO?" 

"This mission is complete," KOS-MOS stated. "However... there were heavy losses. For this, I apologize." 

"What do you mean?" Shion asked with a shaking voice, though she already knew in her heart what the answer would be. 

KOS-MOS hesitated for a moment, and let Jr.'s legs fall to the ground so that she could use her left arm. She held out a black box with the Vector logo emblazoned on it to Shion. "Please take this and have it analyzed," she said.

Shion took it in her shaking hands. It was a small item that an average person might mistake for a glasses case, or some sort of connection gear. It's surface was completely smooth with no openings to prevent contamination and tampering. Shion knew from her experience with realian maintenance exactly what this sort of case was used for. But in her human heart, hope still existed that it wasn't what she thought it was. She asked in a cracked voice. "What... is this?" 

KOS-MOS began to carry Jr. with both arms again and did not turn to Shion as she answered coldly. "It contains the remains of 100-series prototype: designation MOMO."


	10. entry 11 Number 10

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 11!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:  
Since the last few have been kinda sad or angsty, I decided to throw in a humor one. Here you go.

* * *

**"Miss Kukai Foundation!"**  
30kisses Challenge #10 - Number 10  
Disclaimers: The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me. Song "Hutari no Xenopittan!" is the theme song from Xenosaga Freaks. You can find the translation at if you are curious. "Pain" and "Kokoro" from Xenosaga contain lyrics written by Tetsuya Takahashi. "Sweet Song" from Xenosaga 2 was written by Yuki Kajiura (Unless I am mistaken, it could be that she only did the music).

Description: Doesn't really matter when it occurs, because it will never occur. XD

**"Miss Kukai Foundation!"**  
30kisses Challenge #10 - Number 10  
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)

* * *

It was a bright, sun-shiny day on the Kukai Foundation as always. The hustle and bustle was even greater than usual that afternoon in Sector 1, where a large stage was being set up out in the street complete with lights, backdrops, and several cameras. Newscasters from every corner of the star cluster had shown up to cover what was sure to be the next biggest thing.

A blonde-haired woman with a big cheesy grin displaying too-perfect teeth stood in front of one camera. "This is Augusta Hanson reporting live for the Area 40 Publishing Agencies! We're here live at the Kukai Foundation, where the First Annual Miss Kukai Foundation Competition is about to begin!"

The shot on the UMN channel was switched to a panned view of the contestants backstage getting ready for the contest. There were 30 women who had qualified. Among their ranks were the Durandal's top-ranking officers, Mary and Shelley Godwin, who planned on giving a duo performance. Their fan clubs were bursting at the seams in anticipation. Chief Shion Uzuki and the android KOS-MOS were given special permission to compete along with the 100-series realian MOMO thanks to their help saving the Foundation from the Gnosis. Nobody was going to split hairs and mention that they weren't actual Kukai Foundation citizens.

The shot switched back to the reporter, who was now sitting at a table roped off from the bustling crowd. "While the contestants are preparing, why don't we get to know the judges?" She addressed the first person sitting at the table. "And who might you be, ma'am?"

"My name is chaos," replied the silver-haired individual. The woman started at the surprisingly deep voice coming out of the person. He smiled as if to say _It's okay, happens all the time,_ and continued without a hitch. "I am one of the director's co-workers, and they all said that I would be an expert on female beauty for some reason..."

"I can see why," the reporter laughed nervously, and then moved on to the next judge, who was obviously a male.

Before she even asked him, he leaned over and gave her a grin, trying to ooze the charm. "Hey there baby," he said. "Name's Tony. Why aren't _you_ competing?"

"Aha..." she muttered. "Well, I'm from Second Miltia. Anyway, so what qualifies you for this position?"

"Why, I'm an expert on ladies," Tony said, standing triumphantly from his chair. Suddenly the next Judge grabbed him and pulled him back down by the collar of his shirt with a _thunk._

"Siddown, ya moron!" the burly baseball cap-wearing man grumbled.

The reporter grinned and skipped the rest of Tony's interview. "And how about you, sir?"

"Wha?" the captain looked up from the third can of beer he managed to get from one of the bars nearby. "Name's Matthews. I have no friggin' idea why I'm here." 

"Okay..." She turned to the fourth and final judge who looked very disgruntled sitting in a low chair behind a tall table. He was the legendary child director, Gaignun Kukai Jr. "And you don't need any introduction at all, do you Little Master?" she asked the short red-head.

Quickly his expression turned to a cocky grin, and he waved his hand lazily in the air as if the event wasn't any big deal at all. "Well you know, I'm _very_ experienced with this sort of thing."

Tony, Matthews, and chaos all began to cough into their hands at once. "_cough_ Sure. _cough_ Right. _cough_" Jr. shot them a glare and opened his mouth to protest, but the reporter cut him off. 

"Well, I think the contest is about to kick off!" she said. "Why don't you tell us about the judging categories?" 

"Ah," Jr. replied, jumping right back into the center of attention. "Right! Well, there are three categories. The first is talent, that means how the girls preform and reflects their inner nature and not just their beauty." He nodded sagely as he continued. "Then there's cuteness, which represents innocent charm. The third category is sex appeal, which I think is pretty self-explanatory."

She seemed put off at how effortlessly the seemingly 12-year-old boy went about the subject and decided to move on. "Well, thanks so much for that!" She turned back to the camera. "And the events the girls will be judged on are a talent show, a song and dance number, and a bathing suit modeling competition! Okay everybody, let's start the excitement!"

The first contestant in the talent show was Shion Uzuki, who entered the stage wearing a pink lace-trimmed apron and pushing a mini-stove oven. Everyone clapped even if they didn't recognize her. Allen had bought her a new pair of glasses to replace the ones he and Jr. accidentally broke, saying that this would increase her _cute_ points, and it worked very well.

"Hello everyone!" she said with a big smile. "I may be chief of Vector's First R&D division, but today I am going to show you the secrets to cooking curry!"

Everyone began to drool as she explained the ingredients, some at the smell that started to waft out of her pots and others at the visual part of the show. Once it was done she dressed it on four fancy plates. "Now I don't have enough for everyone, but if you visit Moby Dicks Cafe in Second Miltia's City Sector, you can order this recipe all the time!" The crowd cheered, though they were all disappointed that they wouldn't be able to get any (in more ways than one). Instead, the plates were passed out to the judges.

Jr. began scarfing down his like a starved man, as did Tony and Matthews. "You don't have to tell us this stuff is good!" Jr. said excitedly. "Shion's curry is the best in the universe!"

"It ain't that great," Matthews denied, as he shoved more into his mouth. "She's over-rated!"

Chaos ate his portion politely. "It's excellent as always," he said calmly.

The reporter watched as the judges scribbled their scores on poster-sized papers with markers. It was a strange but charmingly simple way of displaying the numbers. "And here's the score!" the reporter chimed. "10! 10! 3.5... and 10! My oh my... Captain Matthews is a hard sell isn't he?"

The next to come out were Mary and Shelley, who were competing together. They were both dressed in their standard respectively blue and purple outfits. "Hey Shelley?" Mary asked. "What do you call Little Master when he's running late?"

"I don't know," Shelley replied in a calm but annoyed voice. "What do you call him?" 

"You call him a little faster!" A drum and cymbal beat came from somewhere.

Jr. groaned and smacked his palm into his face as the hilariously bad jokes continued, mostly at his own expense. The crowd was laughing, if not at the joke itself then at the fact that they all understood where it came from. That kind of humor was sometimes better than others.

The reporter beamed. "And here's the score!" The judges held up their scores. "9.5, 9.0, 8.7, and... 2.0?" She laughed. "I guess Little master doesn't like being picked on!"

Several more contestants came and went. With all the oddballs on the Foundation, Jr. was not surprised to see a Happy Bread Bakery employee demonstrating superior rock-paper-scissors ability, or another displaying her speedy window-washing skills. The judges all quickly became bored, though chaos was too nice to give anyone a bad score. Finally, one of their friends took the stage again. It was the youngest contestant, MOMO.

She stepped out onto the stage wearing a pink leotard and a dark violet magician's dress coat with a black top-hat and white stockings. Immediately all the judges were grinning like idiots except for chaos, and even he had to admit she was cute.

"I am going to perform some magic for you!" MOMO said, and twirled around on her heels. A black wand with a white tip appeared in her hand. She winked and waved the wand around. "I'll pull an U-kun out of my hat!" However, when she removed the hat from her head, there was not a bunny inside of it, but rather bunny ears appeared on her head. She blushed and covered her mouth. "Oh no!" she squeaked. "That wasn't supposed to happen!" 

The crowd laughed and made "aww" sounds as she attempted to correct her mistake. MOMO was unable to get rid of the rabbit's ears, but quickly recovered, and reached into the hat, sticking her tongue out in deep concentration. When her arm had disappeared up to the shoulder, she smiled and began to pull. "Ah! there you are!" A pair of bunny ears emerged from the hat, but it seemed to be stuck. She strained to fit U-kun's large head through the brim of it, and eventually he came free with a ipop/i 

"There's U-Kun!" MOMO said, holding the happy side of the UMN rabbit towards the audience. The angry side took over and it wiggled out of her arms, hopping down on the ground and running off. "Oh! U-Kun, come back! I need to do my next trick!" When he bunny didn't return, she looked off to the side of the stage. She spotted Ziggy watching her closely as always, and got a great idea. "Come here, Ziggy!"

Ziggy hesitantly obeyed. The crowd watched as she pulled him onto the stage and smiled back at the audience. "I'm going to turn my wonderful assistant into... a cat!"

"This I gotta see," Jr. muttered. The other judges were just as amused by the idea.

MOMO began to twirl the wand. "Magic magic 1-2-3! MOMO makes you a kittee!" 

Ziggy's expression didn't change at all as he was consumed in pink smoke with an elaborate and sparkly ipoof/i MOMO watched in anticipation along with the rest of the crowd as the smoke cleared. Ziggy's silhouette emerged, and then his form became visible. He hadn't turned into a cat per-say, but he was sporting some fluffy orange tabby-striped ears and a matching tail. MOMO jumped at the site and blushed pink again. "Oh! Ziggy! I am so sorry!" 

The crowd was silent for a few seconds and then rumbled into a roar of laughter. Ziggy's ears and tail seemed to flick without his consent. Still, he remained completely stoic. "Am I done now?" he asked.

"Uh, yes!" MOMO said, and turned to the onlookers again. "That's the show, I hope you enjoyed it!" 

Jr., Tony, Matthews, and even chaos were fighting fits of laughter. "Ten points!" Jr. yelled. "Across the board, ten points!"

"Looks like MOMO made a perfect ten!" the announcer said. The crowd agreed, giving their approval with a round of applause. "Is that it for the talent show? Is there one more round? ...Oh yes! This says that Battle Android KOS-MOS is last but not least!"

KOS-MOS appeared on the stage in front of a life-sized 3-dimensional model of a Gnosis. "Greetings, Kukai Foundation residents," she said. "Today I will be displaying the proper way to approach a Gnosis. This information is quite relevant to your everyday lives. The first thing to remember is that you should never approach a Gnosis that appears translucent. Only attempt to confront a Gnosis when the Hilbert Effect has been activated."

The crowd was beginning to lose interest as she droned on about the weak spots and different attacks. They wanted to forget about the Gnosis, not learn how to kill more of them. 

"Now, allow me to demonstrate an effective attack." KOS-MOS proceeded to whip out her F-SCYTHE weapon. Everybody returned to attention and reeled back in fear. Some of them began to run and scream as she leapt into the air and sliced the model Gnosis in half, a long with a good part of the stage.

"And now," she said, ignoring the response. "If it is still present, we resort to a more rapidly available attack." The scythe disappeared and two triple chain-guns appeared in her hands. She began firing at the remains of the model, the bullets blaring through the peaceful afternoon air and flashes of gunfire visible from miles away. Once the model was a smoking pile of unrecognizable rubble, she stopped and bowed. The audience had decreased by a good portion. "Thank you, and have a pleasant afternoon."

"Well," chaos said. "That is what she does best, isn't it?"

"Are you kidding me?" Jr. said loudly, eyes lit up childishly. "That was freakin' awesome! Ten points!"

The reporter was trying very hard to keep her audience together. "Looks like we've got a score of 10, 7.5, 6.5, and 10!"

After the clean up from KOS-MOS's demonstration was complete, the stage was rearranged for the next event, a song show. Shion came out first, dressed in a shimmery red low-cut gown. She had her hair up and her glasses were gone for the time being. "Aw man, Shion's a real looker!" Tony shouted, and began to whistle. That is when Matthews clunked him in the head with his fist and he shut up quickly.

The stage lights dimmed and rolled sparkling effects over her as she opened her eyes. A haunting melody began to play as Shion took a deep breath and started singing.

"I've been watching you a while, since you waled into my life," she said sadly. "Monday morning, when first I heard you speak to me..." 

Jr. raised an eyebrow and watched her intently. "Wow," he said. "I didn't know Shion could sing... I didn't know she was so sad... and I didn't know she looked that good in a dress! Where have I been?" Chaos shook his head in dismay as their friend continued to sing.

"Though your picture fades each day, in my heart, the memory stays! Though we rant, you're always smiling, and I... will hold you close."

Some people in the crowd were nearly in tears as Shion said, "Thank you," and exited. Allen himself was wailing and holding onto the nearest person who, unfortunately for him, happened to be Canaan. 

"9.5, 9.5, 9.5, 10!" the reporter read. "It looks like all the judges were pleased with Miss Uzuki's performance! Now let's turn back to the stage, where I understand the Kukai Foundation's famous Godwin sisters are about to sing!"

The sisters came out greeted by a round of applause from their fanclubs. The violet-haired older sister wore a long midnight purple gown with a slit that parted nearly to her hip. Mary herself was in a short sky-blue dress with a large bow in her hair.

A lively beat began to play. Shelley looked less than amused while Mary bounced up and down happily with the music. "Sora," Mary sang, "kesera sera urara! Chotto... mojimoji to deeto."

In a deeper tone, Shelley continued the song, then Mary skipped forward, glaring at her sister and trying to encourage her to sing a bit more energetically. "Yume mita mirai, mina mitai!"

Shelley closed her eyes and released a frustrated breath before singing her part. "Tokimeki dogimagi, Very Lucky." The crowd roared with delight, shouting confessions of love and whistling.

Mary was not satisfied, pouted furiously, and ran up to grab her sister's arm in a huff, singing an angry cord. She began to drag her to the front of the stage as her sister stuggled to catch up, they were supposed to sing this line together. "Hitori hutari pitari!" 

The song picked up even more, which was amazing considering how insanely chipper it was to begin with. Mary was totally into it, but Shelley was so mismatched that it looked painful. However, that seemed to work to their advantage. All the Shelley fans in the audience were melting.

"Pit-tan tan-ta xenopittan!"   
"Lin-lan lan-la xenopittan!"  
"Pit-ta-tan!" 

By the end of the song, Shelley had gotten into the swing of things and was dancing around with her sister, hopping and clapping at the right parts. Jr. was nearly suffocating from the lack of oxygen, he was laughing so hard. When the song ended, he was quick to write a "10" on his card.

"Something seems to have struck Little Master funny about that last one!" the reporter laughed. "Perhaps the Godwin sisters are comic geniuses after all? The scores are 9.5, 8.0, 7.5, 10!"

The women of the Kukai Foundation turned out a number of decent singers who preformed songs from popular pop artists like the Seraphim Sisters, or original pieces they wrote themselves. The judges were thoroughly entertained, but Tony was almost thrown out of the panel for shouting lude comments at the woman who called herself his girlfriend. She continued to accuse him of having questionable relationships with everyone at the table including Little Master, and was promptly escorted away.

Just when Jr. was getting bored, he heard the announcement that MOMO was next, and perked up at once. Tony and Matthews both snickered, but not loud enough to be noticed out of fear of his wrath.

MOMO walked out onto the stage in dress of red and yellow satin with white trim. The skirt flared out and had layers of fluffy fabric underneath so that it bounced as she walked, and a long golden ribbon trailed behind her from a huge bow attacked at the small of her back.

She looked at the audience sheepishly as the song began, violin and flute notes picking up. "I remember the days of summer, we were so close together. You were humming the songs of silence, sweetly plucking the harp of wind." 

Jr. stared in awe, mouth hanging open just a little. He had no idea that MOMO could sing that way. "Watch it Little Master," Matthews chuckled. "You're gonna draw flies."

Jr. flinched, drawn out of a daze, and then as a delayed reaction he began to chew the captain out. "I suggest you remember who pays your check every month and shut up, old man!"

"To the lost horizon... I'm calling your name! Again and again!" 

The song came to a close, and the crowd erupted into a cheer. "Give her ten points dammit," Jr. growled at the others. After seeing the murderous icy glare in his eyes, none of them had any objections.

"10, 10, 10, 10!" The reporter listed in amazement. "Again, a perfect score! That's quite a set of windpipes for such a tiny realian."

Some clanking and loud mechanical noises were heard from backstage. "You listen to me, KOS-MOS!" came the voice of what sounded like Shion Uzuki. "You get out there, you wear this, and you sing that song right now! That's an order!"

"I do not see any logical purpose behind this activity," she replied, before she was forcefully pushed out onto the stage wearing a black evening gown with spaghetti straps. The back of it cut very far down, and the slits on either sides were laced together, exposing a fair amount of her legs. Her hair was completely down, and ironed into curls at the ends. "I apologize for inconveniences caused by my earlier performance," she said to the crowd. Most everyone had returned, but they were still wary. "I will now sing a song." 

Everyone watched in awe as KOS-MOS managed to loosen up and the music played. Some subroutine programmed by Shion was running inside of her they guessed, because this couldn't be KOS-MOS's work. "First we touch," she sang in her rich commanding voice, "and we hurt each other, then we tear our hearts apart. We are too close, and I can feel the pain... fill my empty heart..." 

Jr., Matthews, and Tony all stared at KOS-MOS with wide eyes and confused grimaces, though chaos looked incredibly happy. "What the..." all three of them muttered at once.

"Kindness is something I don't want or need! The sunshine would just dissolve me into light... Give me a pain as pleasing as your sigh, so I can feel you all the day and night."

Her eyes grazed over the crowd as she extended her hand passionately singing the lyrics. The red orbs passed over each judge, blowing them all away. "And keep me from fading away."

"Wow!" Jr. shouted as she finished her song. The crowd clapped and cheered and he stood up from his seat (though he didn't gain much notice, being so short). Chaos followed his lead, and soon KOS-MOS was staring blankly at a standing ovation. "Ten points for her too, that was amazing!" 

"Thank you very much," KOS-MOS said, becoming rigid and stiff again. She walked off of the stage, met with a tackle-style hug from Shion as soon as she was out of sight.

The reporter looked over at the judges and read the scores. "10, 10, 10. and 10! And we're finally to the final contest! The swimsuit challenge is about to begin. But first, let's have a short break!" 

Backstage, Shion finally got over her immense joy, and led KOS-MOS to visit MOMO. She found the girl in a corner wiping her eyes as if she was resisting tears. Ziggy was standing beside her, at a total loss. His cat attachments were all gone. "What's wrong MOMO?" she asked sympathetically.

The small realian looked up at her. "Shion!" she said, and the older girl leaned down to comfort her with a small hug. "I'm so embarassed... I messed up on my magic tricks... then I sang so horribly... Jr. was looking at me with this shocked expression on his face. I can't go out there again!"

Shion was confused, and looked to Ziggy. "I tried to convince her that it was simply admiration, but she does not listen."

The young Vector scientist laughed. "That's silly, MOMO. Hey KOS-MOS," she turned to the android. "What's the score so far?" 

"Currently, MOMO is in the lead with a perfect 10." 

MOMO gasped and looked up. "Really? How can that be?" 

"Well," Shion said with a grin. "Everybody must have thought you were the cutest ever! Even Captain Matthews likes your performance." MOMO looked down and blushed, but she seemed more confident.

"We should change," KOS-MOS interjected. "The final round is about to begin."

All 30 of the ladies walked out onto the stage wearing swim suits of varying colors and shapes. Some were frumpy, while others showed a little too much for the body type of the woman wearing them. Shion led the line in a bright red two-piece with her trade-mark leg-wrap and a pair of high heels. Mary was wearing a blue bikini, while Shelly wore a violet one-piece that somehow managed to show more of her skin than Mary's did. MOMO came out in a black two-piece with bottoms that wore like shorts and a halter-style top. She had flip flops with pink flowers on them, and walked out shyly, keeping her chin turned down and eyes glancing up with a blush on her cheeks. KOS-MOS was wearing her standard white suit with gloves and heels, which was a shocking vision to everyone who had never seen it before. 

"What lovely ladies!" the reporter commented. "I wonder how all of them keep in such great shape! Now, I heard that we have a special judge for this round of the contest... Director Gaignun Kukai!"

Jr.'s head bobbed up as his brother walked out on stage wearing a black dress suit as always. "Huh?" he shouted. 'What's he doing? I'm supposed to be running this thing!" 

All the ladies turned to Gaignun and smiled, even KOS-MOS gave him her attention. Some of them giggled and waved sheepishly. Gaignun smiled and nodded in return, smooth as silk. "Now, the voting for this round will be handled a bit differently," he explained to the crowd. "Everyone here today will help to determine the winner. The way it works is this. All of the ladies will face the crowd, then I will point out one silently, and everyone will clap to show how much they like each young lady. A sound monitor under each lady will give us an accurate score. Now let's begin, shall we?" When he finished, all of the swimsuit-clad women were still looking at him contrary to instruction. "Look that way," he prompted gently. 30 heads turned to the audience.

"This is bull crap!" Jr. exclaimed, though nobody was paying attention to him with the bathing suit beauties and attractive young director on the stage. "We're supposed to judge all three rounds!" 

"Calm down Jr.," chaos said, but the short red-head was already stomping towards the stage.

Shion received an energetic round of applause. Allen made such a commotion trying to make as much noise as he could that he was nearly caught by security and thrown out. The score said "9.0" Next, the Godwin sisters had their fan clubs to cause a ruckus for them. They received a 8.7. The other girls seemed to range in the 7 and lower range, then Gaignun moved to KOS-MOS. The crowd clapped for her hesitantly, not sure whether their applause might cause her to attack. "3.0" 

"Wait!" Jr. said, running onto the stage. "This isn't how this contest is supposed to work!"

"Oh, hello Jr." Gaignun said, playing dumb. "You're just in time, I was just about to finish the round."

"Hm?" MOMO looked up, but dared not to turn around since that would break the rules. "Jr.?"

"We had a judging process set up," Jr. grumbled. "You're just trying to set yourself up for a date with half these girls later!"

Gaignun shrugged, maintaining his claim to innocence. "Now that's simply not true. But since you're here, would you like to give your input on the three categories for the final contestant?"

Jr. stuck his nose up, not buying the evasion one bit. "You know that she's a perfect ten."

"Really?" Gaignun said, smirking. "I can see talent and cuteness... but you'd give her a ten in the sexual appeal category as well?"

"No!" Jr. shouted angrily. "I mean... of course not! But she's still a ten!"

"Little Master," Shelley teased. "What _would_ you rate her for that category?"

"Yeah!" Shion joined in with a laugh. "Since you've got plenty of _experience_ and everything."

"That isn't the point," Jr. said, maintaining his ground. "The point is she was winning and-"

Gaignun raised his hand over MOMO. The entire crowd roared with approval. The small realian blushed, and clapped her hands over her mouth. "Me?" she said, and turned around. "Really... they like me best?" The sound score meter displayed a solid "10.0!" Both MOMO and Jr. looked stunned as the music began to play and flower petals and balloons began to fall everywhere.

"Congratulations!" Gaignun said with more enthusiasm than he usually would afford for such a silly thing. "MOMO, you are the new Misses Kukai!" Two ladies walked to throw a sash over MOMO's shoulders, put a tiara on her head, and hand her a bouquet of red roses. She stared into the crowd speechlessly as all of this was going on.

Jr. returned to being angry quickly. "That's _Miss Kukai Foundation_, you ass!"

"Well," Shion said in a patronizing tone. "You know, the rules do state that the winner will get a kiss from Gaignun Kukai."

"_What?_" Jr. stammered. "No they do not!"

Mary and Shelley nodded. "Why do you think we entered?" Mary said. "You think Shelley would do that for nothing?"

Gaignun shrugged nonchalantly once again as Jr. burned holes into his head with a fiery glare. "I could let things pass and say that it was Gaignun Kukai _Jr._ to whom it referred..."

"I didn't know," MOMO said innocently. "Really!" but Jr. wasn't blaming her at all to begin with.

"Well I don't think-" Jr. said. "That's wrong, and you know it! Shouldn't kiss people just for winning events, that's... not-"

MOMO looked somewhat disappointed, as did Shion and the rest, excluding KOS-MOS of course. The crowd began to grow unsettled, expecting the end of the show to commence. Sensing the disturbance, Gaignun kneeled beside her in a gentlemanly fashion, showing off for the crowd. "I'm sorry MOMO, but we have to do this for the show," he said apologetically, and then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Everyone clapped, Shion and the others laughed in amusement.

MOMO turned beet red in bashfulness as the crowd began to cheer. Jr. did the same, but for an entirely different reason. His face was turning red with anger. "Gaignun!" he shouted, and gave his brother a punch in the shoulder.

Gaignun defended against his older sibling's attack and laughed, even though the smack hurt. He was reminded once again that despite his brother's size, Jr. was quite capable of beating him to a pulp. "It's only for show, for show!" He rubbed his bruise and stood up again.

"So protective," Mary said, shaking her head. "You should have done it yourself!"

Jr. just turned the other direction and crossed his arms. "I don't know what you guys are making a big deal about anyway," he said. The girls exchanged glances and shook their heads.

The crowd began to get lively again. "Encore, encore!" they shouted. "Sing a song!" "Cook some more!" "Turn Little Master into a cat!" 

"Ay!" Jr. shouted back angrily at that last person. 

MOMO began to recover from her embarrassment and gave Jr. a smile. He suddenly forgot about everything and relaxed. "Why don't you sing another song?" he asked her. "I really liked that one you sang."

MOMO beamed with joy. "Really?" she gasped.

"Let's all sing a song togethah!" Mary said loudly. "Come 'ere, Kosy!" She draped her arm over KOS-MOS's shoulder and began blurting out lyrics much to her sister's dismay. Shelley hung towards the back with Gaignun who simply observed.

"I am not familiar with this musical selection," KOS-MOS replied.

Shion grabbed MOMO's hands happily and began to dance around. "Come on MOMO, let's sing one!"

"Okay!" she said excitedly, and started singing. "Xenopittan tan, Xenopittan!"

Jr. scratched his head and smiled. "Heh, well... I guess this was all pretty fun after all."


	11. Entry 12 News, Letter

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 12!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:  
Back to the angst, folks. This is more of the continuing story arch, but I don't have a name for it yet. Just various ideas that connected with each other in order but with no real objective.

**"The Good News"**  
30kisses Challenge #2: news; letter

Description: This entry is a continuation of "Adults (#28: Calcium)" "New Hurt (#26: if only I could make you mine)" and "The Next World (#8: Our Own World)" please regard them all as scenes from an alternate reality Xenosaga 3.  
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)

* * *

Absolutely no one was unaffected by the loss as the news spread through the circles of their friends and comrades. On the Durandal, all productivity was far behind. Mary tended to Jr., trying to get him to sleep or to do anything, but he only laid in bed awake. It was a miracle that her kindness was even able to keep him alive. Shelley tried her best to command in their master's absence, but morale was too low. The 100-series who controlled the ship were devastated and their link to the ship's central computer became erratic as a result. Without their master's unrelenting spirit to guide them, the crew was lost.

Even the Elsa's group was too emotional to work. Each of the men had grown particularly fond of the little realian. Now their meals were once again bland, their laundry was ruined when it was washed the wrong way, and all three of them wished they had said 'thank you' more often. Chaos was the most stable of the crew, but quite possibly the most deeply moved of all. 

He went to help Mary with Jr. occasionally. He had tried talking to Shion, Ziggy, and the others who were close to her, but they all shut him out. Even KOS-MOS was stuck in a perpetual loop recalculating the events to the finest degree, but finding nothing. They took her back to Vector to try and mend the problem. He thought perhaps it was such a deep wound that only time could heal it. Even so, something nagged at the back of his mind. Why wasn't he lost, vengeful, or loathing himself like the others were? Why didn't it feel like MOMO was truly gone? A letter from Shion made this all the more disturbing.

Ziggy was the one who took it upon himself to return to Juli Mizrahi and relate to her the news that the child she had so recently accepted was now gone. She didn't blame him, though he blamed himself. Both would have died then and there if not for the fact that Ziggy was unable to take his own life. Juli decided not to leave him to walk the earth in grief for 100 years more, since it was her own request that he extend his life. They had lost another child, but this time at least neither of them was alone. That is when Juli received a letter from Shion Uzuki, and they clung to a desperate hope.

When he dreamed, she was alive and the waking world was a nightmare. She was there and they were both in true form and he told her everything he meant to, but eventually he would awaken and it would melt away. He took the sleeping pills to make sure that he would sleep more than he could be awake, and when he saw Mary he told her she was just part of the dream and what he saw when he slept was real.

That worked well until the dreams became even more frightening than reality. First he began to see through the versions of her presented by his mind begging him to stay with her when in reality, he knew she wanted him to go back and not to grieve. He couldn't help it despite realizing this, and he let that sweet dream seduce him. Soon after that, she began dying over and over and over again in ways even more disturbing than how it had actually happened if that was possible, and he remained awake and fought off sleep as much as he could.

Even still, he laid in bed on medication just trying not to think. Mary convinced him to eat and drink enough to stay alive. No matter what happened, there were always people who needed him and so no matter which of his loved ones died, he would always have to keep fighting. Mary dared to suggest that he see a real doctor for the right kind of pills or that he walk around the Durandal for a change of scenery, but every time he didn't bother even to answer her.

One time Jr. was actually aware of chaos's presence but he didn't bother to address him as the silver-haired youth spoke to Mary. "I've got some news for you," he said in a hushed tone. "Shion sent us a letter..." The two of them left.

It was some time before Jr. made a decision. He decided above all that he wasn't going to sit around and loathe himself and put a burden on everyone any longer. It was kill himself or take some kind of action, no in-betweens. Since the first idea would make her sad, he chose the latter and got dressed. He was going to find each and every person, entity or otherwise, who was even close to the events surrounding her death and make them all hurt as much as he did. Dressed all in red and thinking thoughts like the devil of how best to punish every last one of those bastards, he skulked through the halls of the Durandal glaring at anyone who dared try to talk to him. The fact that he had jumped over 10 years in growth since his last appearance didn't help him avoid attention. 

Soon he got ahold of some change logs in the administrative office and found that two weeks had passed since his return to the Durandal. Shelley had been in command since then, and no major events had occurred. There was only one special note included. Provisions for Shion Uzuki had been made to complete an unnamed assignment. That caught his suspicion immediately. Even if he'd been out of it, Mary should have at least tried to tell him. Then he thought maybe she did and he was too drugged up at the time to remember. Either way, it screamed of something wrong. He closed the logs and decided to find out for himself.

The "provisions" mentioned in the log were no small items. Shion had created her own laboratory from one of the test centers in the containment area that had been going unused. A huge amount of realian-related equipment had been ordered and Jr. doubted it was because Shion suddenly decided to change her occupation.

He opened the door to the dark lab without bothering to knock. Inside, the grey-colored walls did very little to reflect the small amount of light projected by the numerous translucent computer screens. The place smelled of a person who had worked for days on end without bothering much to tend to her hygiene. In the corner the sound of hardly audible blips sounding at a rapid speed came to a halt as Shion's fingers stopped tapping away. He found her in the corner of the lab sitting in front of a console concealed mostly in darkness. The light reflected off of her glasses shielding her eyes from his sight.

"Jr..." she said without moving or raising her head. "I'm not sure whether I should be surprised you're here already, or that it took you so long... just what day is it anyway?"

"Not sure," Jr. replied with a bitter bite, glancing warily at the equipment in the room. In the center there was what looked like at first glance to be a maintenance bed for realians, however, Jr. knew enough about their care to know that this was in fact a capsule for a blank realian unit. It was a realian that had not yet been activated, an artificial human shell inside a convenient tube waiting for some supervisor to give it the breath of life. His suspicions grew as he guessed what she might be planning on doing with such a thing. "Got a little extra credit project going here huh?" he said through clenched teeth. The only thing holding back his anger was the fact that Shion was his friend who he vowed to protect.

Shion smiled knowingly in a way that was somewhat disturbing to watch and pushed her glasses up. "It's a mass production model 125-series observational realian," she answered. "It's not on the market yet, but I sent a letter to Juli Mizrahi explaining my experiment and she had one of the test-types sent over here off-the-record from Mizrahi Laboratories." The glare she received from Jr. as she stood and walked over to the case was like potent poison, but she continued to smile. "Seems I caught the two of them as they were figuring out just how Ziggy was going to find a way to die. Good thing they got my letter in time... no jumping the gun for you either, Jr."

"Just what the hell are you cooking up in here?" Jr. barked, grabbing the young woman by the shoulders and shaking her. He was now well over her height but she didn't look intimidated at all. "Have you gone mad?"

"Maybe a little," Shion said with a guilty grin. "But... you wouldn't hurt me now, would you?" Her words had a sarcastic bite in them that cut to his core.

Jr. let her go, casting his eyes away in shame. "Of course not," he said. "But... Shion, this is wrong. You can't simply make another version of MOMO and expect it to be her," he clenched his fists and his eyes burned at the thought of it. "That's what Mizrahi did with Sakura, and it caused MOMO so much pain." He placed his hands on her shoulders again, gently this time. He searched in her downcast eyes for the friend he once knew, but she was hiding in pain behind this smiling insanity. "I can't allow you to do this."

"You really underestimate me," Shion said, shaking her head. Jr. whipped his head back to her, and found that her smile was slightly less unsett;ing now. "Listen to what I have to say before flying off the handle. Please?" 

"Okay," he said, trying to relax. _This is Shion,_ he reminded himself. She cared about realians' individuality more than anyone else he'd met. "I... I trust you." A glimmer of the kind young woman he knew so well shone through again.

Shion placed her hands on the coffin-like box lovingly as she often used to do to KOS-MOS's bed. "When MOMO interacted with the control column in the Zohar system, she connected to the Zohar in a way that broke her will and integrated her to the system. You've seen it before, it was the same system used to control it on Miltia. That time, it was my friends Cecily and Cathe... they were too far gone to save, though..." Her hands became fists as she remembered their mutilated bodies. She closed her eyes tightly. Jr. felt the pain she was in, as intensely as if it was his own. He felt the urge to comfort her and placed an arm around her shoulder.

She shook her head to say that the gesture was silly, opened her eyes and relaxed, straightening up. "Thank you," she said. "It's true... MOMO's body was disintegrated. But KOS-MOS was able to retrieve the data from the control column itself where it was merged with her. So you see, we have her consciousness and her subconsciousness in bits and pieces... as for the unconscious, we can find that by opening the encephalon using the emulators you have in storage here. Any normal realian wouldn't have a chance, but MOMO's mind has reformed after a complete wipe-out once in the past. I believe we can do it again." She looked up at Jr. Behind her glasses, her green eyes were desperate and pleading. "I just need you to help me... because you are the only one who can do it. We need the help of a URTV."

Jr.'s heart began to race. "You wouldn't give me false hope..." he said breathlessly, and swallowed hard. There was still a chance. MOMO might live again. He put his arms around Shion and held her tightly. "I will do anything you ask," he said into her ear. "Anything." 

Shion returned her friend's embrace. "I know," she said. "Please... take a look." He released her, and she pressed a key on the console of the realian capsule. The top half slid away revealing its contents. Jr.'s eyes widened and his breaths stopped altogether.

"The 125 model doesn't look like Sakura since Juli Mizrahi had a hand in it it rather than Joachim Mizrahi. So, I had to change a few physical features to make it really MOMO... and the 125 is also older, but its the only model that I could get unactivated and off the record. Besides... I think that is what MOMO always wanted."

Jr. dropped to his knees. He beheld a young woman who _was_ MOMO in every possible way. The air played with pink strands of hair that framed her delicate face. Thick black lashes were closed over large eyes he assumed were golden. Her hands were folded over her chest. Her fingers were longer, but as he reached out to hold them he found that they were just as soft. Lifting one to his lips, he found that she even _smelled_ like MOMO. He kissed her palm, offering his very soul to whatever forces might still find it valuable that she would open her eyes and speak.

Shion took her turn to comfort him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Juli, Ziggy, KOS-MOS, chaos, Jin, Allen... me and you, we're all together. She's going to come back, or we'll die trying."


	12. entry 13 gardenia, 14 dreams and reality

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 13 and 14!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:  
I have two entries this time. One is a picture, and the other is a continuation of the ongoing story. I saw no point in breaking these related ones apart any further, I'm not _that_ evil. And er... it was confusing to some. 

**"Gardenia"**  
30kisses Challenge #11:

Gardenia http/img206.imageshack.us/img206/9032/gardenia2rl.jpg

**"Walking in my Shadow"**  
30kisses Challenge #6: the space between dream and reality

Description: This entry is a continuation of "Adults (#28: Calcium)" "New Hurt (#26: if only I could make you mine)" "The Next World (#8: Our Own World)" and "The Good News (#2:news; letter)" please regard them all as scenes from an alternate reality Xenosaga 3.  
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)

* * *

A dive platform was set up in the Zohar containment hangar. Shion stood amidst them, stretching her neck to glance up at the gigantic golden statues. As she looked at them she felt that eerie feeling, as if she was being drawn in by their ominous power. 

"Shion," chaos said, snapping her from her trance. She looked up at him, shaking her head to clear it. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," she said. She looked to Allen who was standing nearby.

"I'm on it," Allen said. "This is a dive into an encephalon area formed from MOMO's remains and the unconscious domain accessed through the Zohars. I don't need to explain to you the danger of this operation."

"The hell you don't," Jr. snapped, impatiently clipping the red dive goggles onto his face. "Just do it. We're ready to do or die."

Allen nodded nervously. "Sure thing!" Shion and chaos snapped their goggles on as well. Allen coughed. "Okay then..."

Mary Godwin stood behind a terminal outside of the central ring they had constructed. Near her were the containment cases for both MOMO's remains and the body they planned to transfer her into. Her fingers flew over the keyboards as she tried not to think about what was lying inside of that case. "Dive in progress! Initiating in... 5...

4...  
3...   
2...  
1!"

* * *

A golden light sparkled through a glass pane window, casting six bright squares across her body as she laid in a bed. This antique style of architecture was a rarity in the world MOMO knew, and she felt very out of place as she awoke. She sat up to look around. It was a girl's room decorated with stuffed animals. Her body was covered by a thick pink and yellow quilt. Though she didn't remember ever coming to a place like this, it seemed very familiar, like something she had seen in a dream. 

The sound of small footsteps on a hollow stairway interrupted the silence. A moment later the bedroom door creaked open revealing a small girl in a white dress. She had chocolate brown hair and emerald green eyes, but aside from that she was a perfect mirror image of MOMO.

"Ah!" she exclaimed upon seeing the confused realian sitting up in the bed. A broad smile spread across her face. "You're awake!"

MOMO was speechless for a moment, but she recovered quickly, realizing exactly who the girl was. "You're... Sakura?"

Sakura smiled brightly again and pulled a chair from a small vanity table near her bed. "Yes! Can you see me and hear me and everything?"

MOMO nodded her head, still wearing a dumbfounded expression. "Yes," she said. "But you-"

"You're my sister, aren't you?" Sakura interrupted in her excitement. "I'm so happy that I get to meet you!"

"But I..." MOMO didn't understand what was going on. Sakura died fifteen years ago. They said that she was seen in her subconscious domain, but even then, it would only be memory and not a real interaction. She thought it would be a bad idea to come out and tell this Sakura that she was dead, so MOMO decided to remain quiet.

"I found you outside," Sakura continued. "You were asleep and you wouldn't wake up. I was scared. I waited and waited for Rubedo and the others to come to help you, but they never came... so, I tried to do my best and brought you inside."

"How long was I asleep?" MOMO said.

"I'm not really sure," Sakura replied. "The days and nights here don't really make sense. The seasons don't either. I know you were asleep for a long time, though."

"Everyone must be worried about me," MOMO said. She tried to remember the last thing that happened to her before she woke up, but it was fuzzy in her head.

"Do you know Rubedo?" Sakura asked. She watched MOMO with intense curiosity.

MOMO nodded her head again. "We're friends," she said, but even as the words slipped out of her mouth she felt uneasy.

"Did he tell you about me?"

"No," MOMO replied. Jr. honestly hadn't. She only knew about Sakura's relationship with him through their dive into her subconscious.

"Well... I'm your big sister. I have wanted to meet you for a long time! I didn't even know you were born yet. But hey, you look the same age as me. How old are you?"

"Um," MOMO didn't know how to tell Sakura that she was nearly 15 years of age in real time, more if you considered that she was born already at an older child's stage of development, and that had she had been born in fact, after the girl's supposed death. "I'm a realian, so we don't really have ages."

"Oh," Sakura considered that for a moment. "I see... So you are born at whatever age the mom and dad want, right?"

"Uh-huh," MOMO replied. "And we don't grow bigger after that."

"That's okay," Sakura responded in a comforting manner. She stood from the chair and sat next to MOMO on the bed. To the realian's surprise, the young girl wrapped her arms around her and gave her a tender hug. "I'm so happy," she said. MOMO felt a warmth growing in her heart despite the confusion she was in and returned the embrace. "Now I won't be lonely anymore. Rubedo doesn't come to visit anymore, but now I have you."

"Rubedo doesn't come," MOMO repeated. "What do you mean?"

"It's been a long time," Sakura replied. She looked down modestly at the purple shoes on her feet that hung off the bed. "The last time he was here I... I might have made him not like me anymore."

"No," MOMO said. "Jr. likes you very much! I mean... Rubedo."

"I really like Rubedo," Sakura said, and her cheeks started to turn pink.

"Me too," MOMO agreed, noticing the change.

Sakura turned to face MOMO again. "Since you're my sister, will you promise to keep a secret?"

"Alright," MOMO agreed.

Sakura hesitated just a moment before continuing more softly, as if someone else might hear if she rose her voice. "I think I'm in love with Rubedo," she said. "I wish I could see him again."

MOMO's face darkened a bit as she felt a twinge in her heart. "I'm sure you will," she said, gently. For a moment, one might mistake MOMO for the older sister. "He wants to visit you, but he couldn't..."

"Did they make him go fight?" Sakura asked. "Did he have to go and fight the U-DO?"

"Yes," MOMO replied. "And... some sad things happened to him. One of his brothers died, and then... he had to grow up all at once."

"His brother died?" Sakura exclaimed. "Who? Which one?"

"Albedo," MOMO answered, wishing she hadn't brought up the subject. Sakura fell silent. She was accustomed to the occasional standard unit dying, but they didn't seem quite the same as the three lively boys possessing different hair colors. Tears started to form in her green eyes.

"No," She sobbed. "Albedo shouldn't die! He was always mean to me, but I know its not because he's a bad person!" She grasped MOMO's arms again and began to weep. For a brief moment, MOMO thought of the irony of her sister crying tears for Albedo, who had called her own tears useless, but deep in her heart she mourned his loss as well. "Nobody is supposed to die, none of them should have to fight a war, it's not fair..."

MOMO leaned her head against her sister and patted her back comfortingly as she sobbed. She didn't know what to say next. She couldn't tell her that their father was also dead, that 15 years had passed, that Rubedo and Nigredo were now adults, and everything else. It felt exactly like that time on the Cathedral Ship, when Commander Cherencov passed on, and Shion fell to her knees sobbing. MOMO felt her pain, but couldn't do anything to help her, or anyone else. Even Ziggy blocked her out when she inquired if something had happened to him.

The sun shining through the window began to fade as clouds rolled over the sky. Minutes passed by, and after a short while it began to rain. The droplets tapped against the roof and the glass window. MOMO found it to be a comforting sound, but Sakura did not share in that feeling. She invited herself into the blankets with MOMO and laid with her shivering, still crying over the loss of Albedo. MOMO didn't mind at all. She had never been so endeared by anyone before. Not even Shion, or her mother, or Jr., or even Ziggy would lay with her this way. A flash of light lit the room for a split second, then left them in darkness again as a clap of thunder shook the house. Sakura flinched at the noise.

"I hate thunder," she said to MOMO. Her voice was laced with forced bravery as she smiled warmly at her 'younger' sister. "Don't worry though... I'll keep you safe from it."

"Thank you," MOMO replied, admiring her will despite a sort of childishness that accompanied it. She smiled, realizing just how similar the girl was to the young man she felt so strongly for.

* * *

Jr., Shion, and chaos found themselves in the same access point they had nearly a year ago. It was a sunny summer's day in MOMO's subconscious domain. Shion looked around. "Looks like everything is as it should be," she said. "I just hope that we get the right memory playback to spark MOMO's consciousness." 

That concern soon solved itself. Jr. watched as a red-haired boy nearly half his size grazed past his right side on the path. He backed away as if having seen a ghost. No matter how used to encephalon dives they were, seeing oneself in the past was always eerie. It was especially so for him, considering that this was the form he had so recently grown out of. It still felt like that was his body, and the one he was currently in was someone else.

Witnessing the shell-shocked expression on his face, Shion gave him a reassuring tap on the back. Before she was able to speak words of encouragement, another figure appeared in the familiar scene. The boy stopped at the foot of the stairs as she emerged from the house. She was dressed in a white gown, but Jr. flinched as he realized her hair was not brown and her eyes were not emerald. They were pink and marigold like MOMO's. The boy did not seem to notice this peculiarity as they greeted each other with warm smiles.

"Look what I brought today!" Rubedo said excitedly, holding up a small silver object in his hand.

Sakura, or MOMO rather, came down to the foot of the porch's stairs to see. "What is it?" she asked, tilting her head and clasping her hands behind her back.

"A harmonica!" he replied, and blew a note on it to demonstrate. "Do you remember earlier when we played together with your mom?"

The pink-haired version of Sakura shook her head. "No," she said sadly. "I kind of remember... just seeing my mom, and maybe... my fingers moved a bit?"

Rubedo shook his head up and down vigorously. "Yeah! She taught us a song and you played the piano and everything! Don't you remember that?"

Sakura looked at her hands and began to move her fingers slightly in a way she half-remembered would relay the notes to the piano. "Sort of," she said. "Thank you for playing with me."

Rubedo's sunny expression turned to one of concern. "You don't have to thank someone for playing," he said in a down tone. "It's supposed to be fun." There was a small awkward silence that didn't seem to fit the scene as the girl looked down at the ground and bounced timidly on her heels. Rubedo laughed softly without a prompt and began to play the instrument, filling the air with the somber sounds of his breath filtered through it.

Jr. was watching, holding his silence only because he was in such a great deal of confusion. "That... that's not what happened," he said breathlessly, and took a few hesitant steps towards the two. "That is not what Sakura did, she... she begged me to play a song for her!"

Shion noticed the girl's reaction as well. Her posture and demure nature were exactly like MOMO's. Though Shion didn't know the Sakura well, she never seemed the type to turn down such an opportunity to gain Jr.'s attention.

"MOMO!" Jr. begged as he walked between the two phantoms. "Can't you hear me? What's wrong?"

Shion watched, helpless to do anything, as Jr.'s hands slipped through the girl's frame like he was some sort of apparition. He gritted his teeth as the young boy and girl faded away and soon, the entire field disappeared with them. The chirping of birds and the sound of the harmonica were replaced with rolling waves of the ocean. The sun was shining just as much on the Kukai's private beach. Jr. struggled to fit in the time that this event had occurred as he saw his more familiar self exit the beach house having dressed again. MOMO was sitting on the steps outside, waiting. The others were nowhere to be found. Here they noticed the identity confusion at work again. Though the girl wore the short dress and white boots, the hair held by her barrettes was chocolate brown instead of cotton candy pink.

She popped up from her seat and turned to face him with a smile. "Rubedo!"

"Hey there," Jr. replied with a grin, taking no notice of the odd name used. "Adults take way too long to get ready, don't they?"

Jr. took a step towards them, eyes narrowing in skepticism. "This isn't the same either," he said.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry," the girl continued. The younger version of Jr. looked surprised and shifted his weight as she hurried to explain herself. "Earlier when me, Shion, and Allen were talking... I'm sorry if what we said sounded rude. I didn't mean it..."

"It's alright," he said, and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "I get that a lot so its no big deal. Hey listen, there's a lot of things I need to explain to you. But, all of that can wait for another day. You've had a hard time, so lets just relax for a while, okay?"

The girl nodded. "Okay!"

Jr. stood in place with his hands clenched into fists. "MOMO didn't say it like that," he said, biting down. "She was too shy to even spit it out. She felt so bad for what you guys said... I..."

"I'm sure there's some reason behind this," Shion said, trying to cheer him up. 'When we find out what it is, we will fix it!"

Chaos spoke as the three of them noticed the scenery changing once again. "It seems we're about to be treated to another scene. The frequency at which they're being displayed is unusually rapid, isn't it? Almost as if they are being forced out..."

"Right," Shion agreed. They hushed in thought as their environment changed to that of the Durandal's bridge. There, the younger version of Jr. was looking through the enormous screen at the Song of Nephilim which laid idle in the distance, wondering whether they should actually destroy it. Behind them, another brown-tressed MOMO appeared and walked up to him. Jr. turned to look at her, eyes softening even after all that he had experienced. As she walked to his side, he raised his hand and placed it gently on her cheek.

"Are you... okay?"

She nodded and gave him a bright smile. "I'm fine," she said. "Thanks to you, Rubedo!"

Before the three witnesses to the altered scene could comment, their surroundings changed slightly once again. This time it was MOMO, the Sakura version of her at least, waiting on the bridge in her navy blue beret as Jr. and chaos ascended. "Rubedo!" she cried, and ran into his arms. He spun her around to keep himself from toppling over. As they came to a stop, she smiled and pressed her lips against his.

"I certainly don't remember that," Shion said with a small chuckle. Jr. was not amused in the least, however. Once again the scene changed, and they found themselves outside the old gas station in Sakura's domain. No one seemed to be nearby. Shion decided to stop here to think and the others followed suit.

"What the hell is going on?" Jr. growled. "Who is screwing around with MOMO's memories of me?"

"It would seem like," Shion ventured, "the two psyches present here are struggling for dominance. MOMO took one of Sakura's memories, while Sakura has taken three of MOMO's."

"Sakura?" Jr. said, the name itself causing a stabbing pain in his heart.

"It doesn't seem to be so much a struggle to me," chaos added. "More like... an exchange. Think for a moment... It seemed that in a way, MOMO wanted more than anything to become Sakura."

"She..." Jr. mumbled as that thought fell into place. "That's right... I think that maybe deep down inside, even though we tried to tell her not to feel like that... MOMO always thought it would be better if she really was a copy of Sakura. She wanted everyone who lost Sakura to be happy."

"And," Shion said hesitantly, trying not to rub the wound. "MOMO might even have felt envious because... the relationship you and Sakura had was..."

Chaos picked up where Shion didn't want to venture. It needed to be said. "From what we have seen, you returned Sakura's affection for you. And 'Sakura' in turn wishes to be MOMO so that she can be close to you now."

"Damn it," Jr. spun around furling his coat, holding his fists by his sides angry that he had nothing to take out his frustration on. "If I had only told her... this wouldn't be happening. She would want to come back just as badly as I want her to."

Shion placed her hand on his back again. "It's not your fault," she said. "Maybe... if you tell her now?"

Jr. took a deep breath and looked at his friend with a nod. "Right," he said. An apologetic smile graced his features as he relaxed and let that idea sink in. "Thanks, Shion. Ah... what would I do without you guys, huh?"

"We do seem to hold your feet to the ground more often than not," chaos chuckled calmly. "What concerns me... is that Sakura... her essence is no longer in this plane. Jr... she is truly dead. Though the girl does seem capable of speaking at crucial moments, much like Febronia and Nephilim... she is gone. Her spirit does not remain in this place as MOMO's does."

"So what is this, then?" Jr. asked with a now level head. "Sakura's memories were recorded into MOMO. But why? And to what extent? Mizrahi... even though he was cleared of his crimes, I still question his actions."

"These memories are resonating with your own," Shion reminded him. "So anything that you have memories of might also be found here. But an event which happened after Mizrahi made a copy of Sakura's memory, or that you did not witness yourself... would not be found here at all."

"Like her death," Jr. stated bluntly. His friends looked up at him in concern. After a moment he returned from deep thought met with their questioning eyes. "Ah," he sighed, scratching his head. "Let's just say it wasn't pleasant... the only person present was Juli Mizrahi."

"Only her?" Shion blinked wide green eyes behind a pair of glasses. "Did her mother restrict access when her health failed?"

"No," Jr. let out a deep breath. There was a twinge of guilt in his voice. "Sometime after the URTVs were deployed and couldn't enter her subconscious, Sakura's mental health degraded dramatically and she took her own life." Shion gasped sharply at this revelation, and began to feel an entirely new sympathy for Jr. "I didn't find out about it until a long time after we came back from Miltia. I never had the heart to ask Juli about the specifics... but it was ironic. The ability to take such an action showed just how much she had improved."

"Jr.," Shion said breathily, "I'm sorry..."

"Don't sweat it," he replied, forcing a smile. "That's all in the past. What we need to do now is get MOMO back."

"We need to find her," chaos suggested. "Where could we expect MOMO to appear again?"

All three were silent for a moment as the summer breeze swept by them. Shion was the first to find an idea. "On the porch at sunset," she said. "I'm sure thats the time that MOMO wished most that she could be Sakura."

Jr. closed his eyes, remembering that time. "Yeah. We can try that."

* * *

They hurried back to the house behind the white-picket fence which was glowing golden orange by the time they made it there. They found a scene already in progress. Shion's instinct had been correct. Jr. ascended the stairs as it went on, his two friends close behind. 

"I heard that my daddy is researching to find a treatment for me," MOMO said. "He's going to make a realian who has human emotions, and we'll be linked so that she can tell my mom what I want to say. I won't have to make her sad ever again."

Rubedo's dialouge had not changed at all, however. "Sakura, you sure have nice parents."

"Do you have parents?" she asked meekly. "Your father doesn't seem like a very nice man but... do you have a mother?"

"Yeah, we have one. Genetically speaking, anyway. She had a healthy ovum with a perfect set of chromosomes. ThatÕs all we really know about her."

"So... you don't want to meet her?"

"What's the point? So I can say, Hi, youÕre the mother of a bunch of genetically engineered bioweapons?"

MOMO looked at him, eyes heavy and full of sympathy. There was a pause before she moved as if she was wondering if she should, and then she moved over towards him, scooting her body in a manner that was almost humorously shy. Jr. noticed this just as her shoulder brushed against his. "I think she would like to meet you," she said, looking away with a light blush on her cheeks. "I know that I would. You are such a wonderful person, Jr."

Rubedo turned away, upset with himself. Jr. wondered how he could have been so thickheaded at that time as he watched. "Oh yeah? The only time we can leave the Institute is when there's a war going on."

"This is ridiculous," Jr. spouted.

Shion looked up at him. His eyes were still fixed on the pair in front of them. "What are you going to do?"

Jr. didn't answer. He took a step forward, and sat down on the bench next to MOMO, right over the image of his former self. The bodies there merged, turning into a the form of himself he was most comfortable with, the younger self with the older mind. The URTV in the silver and blue uniform was replaced by Little Master, commander of the Durandal in full regalia. Shion opened her eyes wide in shock, wondering how such an alteration of one's own personal projection was possible. Chaos simply watched, waiting for the events to unfold calmly.

MOMO didn't seem to notice the change as she continued. "You don't have to do anything for me, Jr... but I would like for you to look after Sakura. She wants to be with you now, so please take her back."

"What are you saying?" Jr. replied. Only now did MOMO acknowledge his presence. "I would _never_ trade you for her. Even if that was possible, which its not. You are the one that I'm going to take back here and now!"

Shion shifted her weight smiling, and put her hands on her hips. That was the Jr. she knew, cutting right to the truth. MOMO only stared back at him aghast and speechless.

"MOMO!" he said, putting a hand on either shoulder. "I need _you_!"

Still she said nothing, but her eyes began to redden and glaze, and her lips trembled. A tear rolled down her cheek. That is the last thing that Shion saw before her encephalon connection collasped. She suddenly found herself shrouded in darkness. To Jr.'s eyes, she and chaos disappeared. He looked up in alarm to see them both vanish. Turning back to MOMO, he found her golden eyes turned deep green. "Rubedo!" Sakura cried, and threw herself against the boy's body. "Where did you go? Why did you go away?"

Jr. closed his eyes painfully and held the little sobbing girl. As he opened them again, he found himself in blackness. He thought he remembered being here before, he couldn't exactly place it. It seemed however, that he had been here with Sakura.

He tore her away from himself slowly though she still curled up wanting him to hold her. "Tell me, what's the last thing you said to me?"

Sakura looked up at him with tear-stained eyes. "W-what? I said Goodnight, Rubedo. Don't you remember? I said I'd see you tomorrow but you never... you never came..."

"I did come," Jr. said, looking through the emptiness as if the answer would be found there. "What is going on? I did go there that day!"

"She is not me," said Sakura's voice, this time it came from behind him. He held the crying girl and turned to look at her, standing there with a distant and sad expression in her eyes. She whispered to him slowly like one might when telling horrible news to a child. "She's an alias... something that came from my sister's memory and the Zohar's memory of me. I took my life... but it was not your fault, Rubedo."

Jr. was now on the verge of tears himself. "But why?" he choked. "Why would you do that?"

"I hope that... you will never understand why," she replied. "It's too much insufferable knowledge. But if not for you, my life would have ended without ever feeling happiness. Or... I may still be alive in a void, and wishing for death. Now... let this lost soul rest in peace."

Rubedo turned to the girl in his arms. He hadn't noticed exactly when it had reverted, but his body was now much larger than hers again. He picked her up easily, and cradled her. Guilt wracked his heart as he looked at the girl. It was not Sakura, but it was something that had feelings. "What are you? Just a consciousness that sprang out of these twisted circumstances like those poor realians in the Zohar?" His fingers tightened around her as she began to fall asleep against his chest. She was falling asleep despite the rise in his voice as if his return had completed her short existence. "Damn it!" he yelled. "Why does this always happen? We can't save anyone! Everyone becomes a victim, and now we've created a victim who doesn't even have her own identity?"

Sakura approached him slowly, and placed her hand against his back. "You came back," she said. "This girls dream came true. You did come back. Now... let her rest."

Jr. heaved out a deep breath and winced back his tears. "Right," he said. "Poor thing... I... hope that at least she can rest in peace..."

The girl sleeping peacefully in his arms began to fade away. Her body glimmered like one who might become a Gnosis, and then faded away. Jr. dropped to his knees and began to cry. "Why... does it always have to happen this way?"

A hand was placed on his shoulder, though it felt heavier than Sakura's should be, but he paid that no mind. "There is someone you can save," she said. Jr.'s eyes widened.

"MOMO!" he exclaimed, looking ahead, and not at her. "I have to find her again! I have to save her or else this will all been meaningless!" He sprang to his feet and began to run, giving no further attention to the apparition. "Wait!" he called out through the darkness as he ran. "Don't fade away, I'm coming!"

chaos smiled as he watched his red-haired friend race out of sight. "He's so quick with everything," he said quietly. The listener appeared a moment later, the golden-haired girl.

"Is it wise to use your powers in such a way?" she asked him.

chaos closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. "It was _his_ involvement that caused this to happen. So... I view it as an exchange. Besides, she wasn't truly dead... it was their power that brought her back. I did very little."

"Then we must thank Shion and Sakura," Nephilim replied.

"Indeed... rest in peace, Sakura. Let us hope this is the last time I'm forced to call on you."

* * *

Shion awoke in the UMN dive room to find Allen knelt over her wailing something about her being okay. "Ouch," she said, rubbing her head. "That reboot really knocked me out huh?" 

Allen continued to make a fuss as Mary checked her life signs and found her to be normal. "Everything's A-OK with you!" the blonde-haired said in her thick accent. "Now... If only chaos and Little Mastah would come out of it..."

"What about MOMO?" Shion asked.

"Unknown," she replied. "When you were ejected, we lost the feed! Only Little Mastah' can see her now."

chaos opened his eyes and removed the goggles from his head as Allen helped Shion to her feet. He turned to look at them as if nothing strange at all had happened to him. "It makes no difference," he said in a dark tone. "If MOMO can be brought back, then he is the only one left who can do it."

Shion broke out of Allen's grip and looked at her friend still wearing red goggles over his face. There were dried lines from tears visible on his face. Allen voiced his concern. "What happened in there?"

Shion didn't answer. "Good luck, Jr." she said.


	13. entry 15 the sound of waves

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 15!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:  
Sorry for keeping everyone waiting so long! School started and I have deadlines x.x Here's the "end" of this story, though some more might take place in this universe. My endings are always so corny.

**"Promise"**   
30kisses Challenge #29: the sound of waves

Description: This entry is a continuation of "Adults (#28: Calcium)" "New Hurt (#26: if only I could make you mine)" "The Next World (#8: Our Own World)" "The Good News (#2:news; letter)" and "Walking in my Shadow (#6 the space between dreams and reality) please regard them all as scenes from an alternate reality Xenosaga 3.  
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)

* * *

The sound of his running footsteps echoed in the void. He kept on running in the darkness towards something he could only hope to find, with no direction except for a trembling feeling of urgency. 

When Jr. saw light again, he slowed his pace slowed and turned his head wildly about as the blackness around him lightened slightly into grey. Everything in his sight appeared in a shade of it; white sand, dark slate-colored ocean, and silver clouds that rolled over the sky. He knew this place. It was that place where he was told to bring Sakura, but never could reach far enough-the white beach. The sound of waves crashing over the ivory shore was the only thing that he could hear. There were no gulls or wren, not a single living thing in sight. Only he was there, and no one else.

"MOMO!" he called out to the sky as he stumbled across the sand. On the soft shifting ground, his boots caused him to trip and he fell forward on his hands and knees. "Dammit!" he grumbled, spitting grains out of his mouth.

When he looked up once more, she was standing there. He froze on his knees in the sand. She was in grays, with a white gown clinging to her body in the wind, a body that had changed considerably. She was turned towards the ocean and her eyes were closed.

He knelt staring at her for some time. There she was. The last time he heard her voice she'd made this wish to be a woman, and now here she was. He got to his feet as best he could, daring not to even breathe for fear of the sound frightening her presence away like a bird.

She opened her eyes very slowly, and crossed her arms over her chest, holding her shoulders, shivering. The grey waters lapped against her feet, slowly covering them in the white sands. "Do you need something to protect?" she asked him. "Is that why you came here? Is there no other reason for you to exist?"

"No!" Jr. spat and found his footing. The ground he stood on felt more like quicksand than any beach he knew. He found himself sinking more and more. "I need you!" He lost his balance again as he said this and struggled to pull his legs out of the sand, but he couldn't. "I'm sorry I didn't say it before, but I do!"

She turned to look at him with sad, hazy eyes. He remembered the color, they were pure sparkling gold, like bright yellow flowers with dark brown centers.

Jr. was now waist-deep in the thick wet sands and sinking faster. He clawed in front of him trying to pull himself out, trying to reach out to her. "MOMO!"

The sand poured into his mouth as he yelled and his nostrils as he struggled to breath. He began to suffocate as it found its way into his ears then covered his eyes and extinguished the fiery color of his hair underneath deafening grays. Then everything was dark, cold, wet, and heavy as if the beach itself was trying to rub him from existence. He tried to scream though the air remaining in his lungs would not escape.

* * *

Mary's head shot up in alarm as Jr.'s body flinched on the Encephalon dive grid. "Little Mastah's wavelength signals suddenly went off the chart!" she shouted. Shion whipped her head aside to look at her friend and found his eyes wide open. His fists were clenched and his body was shaking. He wasn't breathing. Something was terribly wrong.

Shelley's cool, commanding voice broke through on her com. "We're reading Zohar activity in the quarantine hangar," she said. "What's going on?" 

"Can't talk right now!" Mary answered frantically, her hands flying across the keys. "Major problems!"

Shion reached for Jr. as his head tilted back and an incredibly strained broken sound escaped from his throat. "Jr.!" she yelled, and went for his twitching hands.

"Shion, stop!" Suddenly chaos grabbed her and pulled her away from their companion as a blazing red aura escaped his body, knocking them both to the ground. Allen was pushed down and Mary ducked behind her terminal to escape the blast. Jr.'s ear-piercing scream echoed through the containment area. They watched, unable to approach for fear of their own safety.

* * *

His cry escaped and his will broke through the mass of sand. It melted into glass and shattered to pieces. He fell in the blackness until he felt flat ground under his feet. He shook himself, panting heavily and still glowing with the crimson aura.

He was in the Zohar quarantine hangar and sand had fallen in pools and broken shards all around him. He stood and opened his eyes. They were shining blue with an unnatural radiance lent to him by his anger as he took deep breaths and flexed his hands trying to calm himself. This is where the dive had taken place, and yet Shion, chaos, Mary, and Allen where nowhere to be found. The Zohars were not in their black coffins, they sparkled golden and free of their confinement. They were watching, looking down on him, mocking him.

"Give her back to me!" he shouted at them, turning around wildly to look at each one in turn. They remained ever persistently silent, though he could hear a voice in his head droning and bleaching out his thoughts.

He turned to find that he was not alone, and what he saw caused him to choke. His irises shrunk to tiny beads. 

_It_ stood over him nearly twice his height. It was inhuman, but had a distinct human figure at its core without arms or legs. The rest of it was all entrails and sickening bulbous shapes. It was like the ones he kept in cylinders in the room underneath the hangar, that female figure he often stared at though it took a great deal of effort, and wondered _why_? and _how did this happen_? The focal difference with this figure was that the grey flesh belonged to the girl he loved so dearly.

"For the... love of God..."

She opened her eyes, the only thing about her that shone with color. Even so, they were lifeless and dull. "Go before you are consumed," she said to him, though her mouth didn't open and it sounded like a cry in his mind, like this thing that was once MOMO could no longer speak. Its senses had been dulled and cut away.

He swallowed hard and didn't look away from her eyes, the only thing about her that still seemed to belong to her. He would recognize them anywhere, though all realians possessed similar ones. They were still golden, the way he remembered him. The rest of her was white and grey like that damned beach of nothingness.

"I... gave myself willingly, to save you... to ask for my life... is to give your own to the Zohar. I won't allow it."

"This isn't real!" he argued. "This is a joke! MOMO, your body is back in the real world! Realians can't be turned into Gnosis, this is all just a dream! Think about that form, the physical form that you always wanted to have, she exists!" 

She looked at him with blank eyes that reminded him too much of those grey-haired girls in his brother's company. Though they were all he could hold onto, they were empty and unfeeling. "I... I can't remember anymore..." she said weakly.

His eyebrows furrowed as he fought back tears, and pressed through the inhuman mass to reach out to her. The grey tentacles and insectoid limbs ensnared him, but he reached for her and touched his fingers to what little remained of her face. His hand began to fade into grey and then white and froze solid as he did so, but he didn't care. "Please come back to us," he begged her. "I remember. Take my memory, even if it kills me... I'll send you back. It's the truth."

* * *

"Little Master!" Mary shouted over the noise erupting from the encephalon dive platform, but her voice wouldn't carry. Light and air was spinning around them like a tornado.

Shion gasped as she rose despite chaos's warning to look to where Jr. stood at the center of the storm. His eyes were closed again and his body was beginning to turn white. It started at the tips of his fingers and crept up his arms. "He's going to turn into salt!" she shouted, and chaos had to hold her back from running to him again. 

"Have faith," he said sternly. "We must have faith in him."

* * *

He remembered her hair, it was soft and peach-colored, not colorless white. Her skin was delicate and smooth like cream, not sickly grey, and she blushed easily. Then he remembered the scent of her, the touch of her fingers, the way she could knock him over with her affection though she weighed almost nothing, in his memory these things were vivid. He recalled the way her eyes puffed and reddened when she cried, and she began to cry at that moment because his hair was becoming white.

"Just.. come back to me," he said, before he lost the feeling in his limbs. The Zohars relented their hold on the girl's essence. He fell to the ground in a heap in the center of them as the Gnosis began to evaporate in shimmery orbs of light, leaving behind MOMO's form in vibrant color.

"Jr.!" she cried, and threw herself over him on the ground.

He lifted his arm weakly and placed it on her face as she leaned over him, her tears falling and wonderfully pink hair hanging into his eyes. His limbs faded back to normal flesh and blood.

"I"m sorry!" she sobbed. "I am so sorry, Jr.!"

He smiled comfortingly through the pain and great effort it took to do so. "Don't be sorry," he replied. "Just don't ever leave again. Stay with us... with me." He closed his eyes, confident that he had accomplished out what he set out to do.

* * *

"Yes!" Allen shouted suddenly, analyzing the field from a safe area. "We've got full compatibility showing in all levels!"

Shion looked back at him with a hopeful but hesitant expression. "What?"

Allen smiled back at her. "It's MOMO," he said. "Jr. did it! She's all green!"

Shion whirled back to face the center of the platform where she found that the whiteness was fading from Jr.'s body and the turbulence kicked up by his internal struggle was diminishing. chaos now allowed her to run over as the young returned to reality and opened his eyes. She threw her arms around him. "Jr.!" she cried in happiness as his eyes focused. "It worked! Everything's going to be okay!"

Jr. took a second to register his surroundings as he hugged Shion though he wasn't quite sure why. It was the same place, but the Zohars were sleeping and his friends were here. Shion was beaming with tears in her eyes, Mary was doing the same. chaos was smiling, even Allen had a big grin on his face.

"Where is she?" he asked Shion in a surprisingly calm tone, all things considered. "Can I see her?" 

Shion nodded her head up and down excitedly. "She won't wake up for a while, but let's make her at home before she does, okay?"

Jr. sighed in relief. "Of course," he said, and then fell against Shion, too exhausted to stand anymore. He fell fast asleep in her arms.

Shion took a few steps back under his weight and had to look for chaos to help her hold him. She laughed, despite how the situation seemed. "Looks like he's going to need some recuperation as well."

* * *

_All I ever wanted was to stay with you_, she wanted to say, but she hadn't been given that chance. _All of my training, proving my worth, it was all to stay with you._ It was still on her mind as she opened her eyes. It seemed hard to do, as if she was learning how to move her eyelids all over again. When she did, it was fuzzy all around her.

She heard a gasp and then her mother's joyful calling of her name. "Oh MOMO!" Juli cried, before putting her arms around the girl's shoulders.

MOMO struggled to sit up. She felt unbalanced, but managed. Her eyes focused a bit more and she made out the distinctive colors of her cyborg guardian's uniform. "Mom... Ziggy!" she said in a weak voice. It was just slightly different and this surprised her. Ziggy was even wearing a broad smile on his face, which was a marvel in itself. 

After giving Ziggy his hug in turn, Shion was the next who couldn't contain herself and gave her a warm embrace. MOMO could tell it was her from the smell of her perfume and the sound of her voice, though the sudden embrace obscured everything else. "Phew, thought we lost you!" Shion exclaimed, and had to try very hard not to cry anymore.

Jin waved his arm to catch her attention. She could tell it was him even though her vision was blurred because he always wore that robe of a solid color. Shelley and Mary were standing with him behind Shion, easily recognizable. Both seemed ready to burst into tears of joy. Allen was behind Shion, and even Canaan was in the group, though he turned away and pretending that he didn't care.

"Ah...!" she exclaimed, and grinned as she saw them. Next she found chaos sitting on the foot of the bed she was in, KOS-MOS standing by his side, and smiled warmly at them. "You're all..." she giggled in delight. chaos had a rare smile on his face and nodded his head to her right, as if wanting to direct her attention there. She puzzled at this and turned, finding Jr. by her side, opposite her mother and Ziggy.

Her eyes grew bigger and focused as she saw him, though with his red hair he was unmistakable enough as it was. "Hey," he said, as if this was the most natural situation in the world. "Umm... good morning, MOMO."

MOMO took in a deep breath and then let out a happy cry, nearly a squeal, and threw herself at the young man nearly knocking him out of his chair, bursting into tears of joy. Everyone began to laugh at the scene watching Jr. flush bright red as if he was back to being twelve years old. MOMO didn't care about embarrassing herself in front of anyone else present and kissed him there and then.

Shion elbowed the nearest person to her, Ziggy, who responded by sharing severely muted but pleased expression with her. The 100-series realians, who considered themselves MOMO's sisters, burst into the room right at that moment and all were jealous of MOMO's new body and the fact that she had just kissed 'Little Master' on the lips no less, as they announced rather loudly. Shelley had to usher both them and her sister Mary all out of the room before they gave Jr. an anxiety attack.

"This is surreal," MOMO's mother said. "I couldn't believe that you were really gone... now I can't believe that you're back."

Jr. grinned, regaining his composure, and stretched his arms. "It kinda reminds me of the ending from one of my favorite books," he said. "Don't question it... just be glad!" He looked at everyone together, and heaved a relieved sigh from his chest. "I say, let's give MOMO's new body a workout huh?"

Shion looked at him strangely. "Just what do you mean by that?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow. Ziggy groaned before Jr. had a chance to though their sentiments were the same.

"I meant we should do something fun," Jr. replied, taking MOMO's hand and looking at everyone. "To let us all know that we're still alive. Let's do something together."

"I believe the beach is open today," chaos suggested. "We could go there once MOMO has recuperated..."

MOMO smiled at Jr., feeling blissfully happy. "I'd like to hear the sound of the waves," she said.

He returned her expression. "Then lets get you used to walking around... and let's go!"


	14. entry 16 Red

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 16!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:  
Since red is obviously Jr.'s color, I felt like pulling out all the stops. This is one of my personal favorites so far, but it could use some work. It is not something that would likely happen in Xenosaga, I know... but I hope that you will enjoy it anyway. I am super busy lately so I don't know how often my updates will be. Good thing I held onto a few of them to last me a few months and avoid getting kicked out of the 30kisses group!

**"Red"**  
30kisses Challenge #19: red 

Description: one-shot, alternate reality Xenosaga 3  
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)

* * *

A muffled grunt came from Jr.'s lips as he strained to reach a cupboard that was placed high above his head. He couldn't help but think this was a deliberate attempt on his brother's part to keep him out of the good liquor. Though it hurt his pride to resort to such a tactic, he pulled over a chair and stood on it. There was no one to see him, so it didn't matter. In fact, that was the entire reason behind his actions.

Part of it was to defy his brother. Technically, he was the elder and had always assumed that role ever since the day he was named master of the spiritual link, the day he was born. Childish pranks pulled for the sake of attention were beneath him. Even so, he was resorting to petty thieving half-hoping that his brother would come back and notice, get angry, scold him, do anything. It was childish behavior to be sure, but everyone believed that he was a child. He figured he might as well act like one.

It was also the fact that several events lately gave him proper justification for drinking himself under, as far as he was concerned about justifying it. When he first returned from the battle, everything was fine. He was comfortable in the presence of his friends, knowing that he had something to live for and that things were better this way. After they departed however, things became hard to bear again. Gaignun's absence not only left him without his only remaining brother, it also forced Shelley and Mary into working much harder for the Kukai Foundation. As a result, he spent most of his time alone with only the little dog he found, and though Alby was great company, dogs don't understand grief.

The resulting sense of loneliness was something he was not used to. As a URTV, he was born and raised to function as a part of a unit. Even after his fateful decision to cut their link, Gaignun remained with him. They were rarely apart for any great length of time. Now it was too quiet in his head without those thoughts that he found so annoying to filter out. He would have given anything to turn that off, but now he wanted it back. He wanted to be connected to someone. 

This loneliness caused him to question what he knew so confidently only a few months ago. The thought entered his mind that he could have done something different to save them, that maybe this world really didn't need him. He couldn't sleep at night without seeing their faces, or hearing their voices as he laid in the dark. When he did finally sleep, he couldn't stop reliving their last moments in his dreams. That comforting spirit of Sakura that came to console him in the pit of despair was nowhere to be found. That day reaffirmed for him that she would always be with him; but ever since, she felt even more distant than before. Everyone felt far away. No one came to him with comfort, and he refused to go to anyone. The temporary relief from those feelings that he attained when he drank was soothing enough for long nights. Soon his small stash was running dry, but he didn't want to share that information with anyone.

He grimaced with intense disappointment at the contents of the cabinet he had worked so hard to find and reach. Nothing but wine bottles, all of them dark. None of them had ever even opened. With the attitude of people in the Kukai Foundation being very relaxed, he didn't believe it would be so hard to find something more suitable. But he was officially twelve, and he couldn't ask any of the few people who new otherwise to attain it for him. Letting a groan out in a breath, he grabbed the nearest one and didn't care what it was. He weighed under one hundred pounds, it wasn't as if getting drunk was going to take a lot of effort.

The next preparation he had to take was to find the right spot. He felt like a change of scenery from his own room, but the Durandal and the Foundation were too familiar. There were too many people there that knew him, but didn't really know him. He was a child to these people, though they gave him enough respect. They called him Little Master, but they didn't call him Jr. They certainly didn't call him _Rubedo._ He'd rather be some child on the street, if he had to be a child. Wearing a crimson red jacket that made him seem a bit larger, he set out for the shuttle that connected the Durandal to the planet's surface.

* * *

Currently, they were docked on Fifth Jerusalem. This visit had started out as Jr.'s attempt to call Gaignun back, but ended as being an effective position for Shelley and Mary to keep up with recent events (though Shelley did most of the work). This served as yet another brutal reminder of everything that had gone wrong recently. Nevertheless, they were still in orbit and the shuttle was available. Jr. decided that this was his best option.

The shuttle landed in the city at the base of the orbital tower where the SOCE did their work, not that remembering Juli Mizrahi's face at the moment was improving his mood at all. Once out of the space port, he was able to find a quiet park with a secluded bench, and settled in. It was late night in that area of the world, and that suited him well. Most everyone was in their homes, not busy and about, wondering what he might be doing. It was a pleasant temperature, though the wind was picking up and the skies were overcast. He pulled his random choice from underneath his coat and read the label. He laughed at himself bitterly seeing that it was red wine, appropriately enough. Had it been white, he may have had second thoughts.

Sometime after he began to drink, splashes of water began to hit him on the head, light enough at first that he hardly felt them. An alcohol-induced idea occurred to him to move from his hiding spot before the bench soaked and left him with an embarrassing wet stain on the back of his clothing, but as he began walking the desolate streets the rain grew heavier and it did not matter whether he was sitting or not. He was soaked. He did realize that this entire excursion was the stupidest idea he'd had in a while, but was too out of it by that point to find it worth turning back.

By the time he wasn't walking straight, his thoughts were disconnected enough not to care about being drenched. He was actually thankful for it, since it cleared the streets of anyone who might consider a gun-toting 12-year-old swigging wine from the bottle something of an oddity. After stumbling once, he decided to stay still and lean against a brick wall.

He slipped one hand into a pocket on his jeans absently, and felt something there. It was a small electronic note, thin as paper and roughly the size of a business card. It activated with the warmth of his touch, and he pulled it out trying to remember in his intoxicated state who had given it to him. The mystery kept him from thinking of other things, so he went with it.

The dark letters against a gently glowing screen danced slightly to his eyes, but he could read them well enough. There was an address and a contact number written there. The strange thing about the address is that he could swear he had seen it just recently. In fact, unless this was all just some drunken deja vu, he had seen that street name on a sign not too long ago. He had made some mental note of it, though he couldn't remember at the moment what was important about that street name. Curiosity winning against impaired logic, he pushed himself off the wall and walked back in the direction of that street.

The rain was still pouring in heavy sheets when he located the street. The words were becoming fuzzy now, but somehow he managed. At the address he found a quaint home with a picket fence around the yard. Though he didn't remember entering a neighborhood, apparently he had some time ago. It looked quiet and abandoned, like no one lived there. The grass was dying, yielding to the waters and sludge that formed. No lights were on. Something was vaguely familiar about all of this, but he wasn't nearly sober enough to connect these feelings together.

"So whose the hell house is this?" he muttered to himself, without noticing any grammatical error. He approached the steps to the porch figuring that at least if no one was home, he could get out of the rain. One foot lifted, but the other didn't quite make it. He slipped backwards and into a puddle of thick mud with a splash. In response, the house's front lights flickered on. As he laid on his back in the dirty water, he came up with an appropriate, though somewhat delayed, curse. He knew whose house this was now. It was the 100-series on the bridge who gave him the note and told him to call the one they had taken to calling their older sister, but he never did do it. It just didn't feel right.

"Jr!" her small, but surprisingly forceful voice called out over the pattering of the rain. She didn't call him Rubedo, but Jr. was good enough for him at that moment.

He attempted to stand, trying to regain what little dignity he had, and failed. "I didn't know this was your house," he said with a slight slur. "I'm... stupid... stupid stupid."

MOMO put on a sympathetic frown and walked out into the rain to help him up, though she dampened her own clothing with mud in the process. It clung to the short black jumper she was wearing, and the rain soaked her pink hair. "Come inside," she replied, disregarding the ramble that started to tumble out of his mouth against his will. 

"No," he argued back, though she was already pulling his left arm over her shoulders. "Don't be nice to me Mo- MOMO..." He had an extra hard time forming the repeated syllables of her name. "I'm a bastard. I needa... go back home." 

She managed to get him up the steps to the porch, shaking her head at his course language. The obscenities themselves didn't bother her. He used profanity around her constantly with little regard to her delicate ears, and that made her feel a bit closer to him, in a way. It was the way he used them to describe himself that bothered her, and he continued to do so through incoherent mumbles and even more obscene dialogue.

She brought him into the house and shut the door behind them. Inside, a dim lamp was glowing and it was warm. Testing his vitals with all of her observational capabilities, she found that he was dangerously intoxicated. It was a miracle he could stand at all. Examining him up and down, she noticed red droplets running from the tips of his fingers and staining the carpet below, like blood pouring from an open wound. He saw what she was looking at and clumsily raised his hand to his face. There were trickles running across the number emblazoned there in even darker crimson.

"Uh, its sticky," he said in disgust. "My hands are sticky with... red. I killed a lot... its a monster color. I forgot ta tell ya... thats what I am..."

MOMO could hardly understand what he was saying, and she didn't care as she was too worried over the fact that he might have hurt himself. She peeled his coat from his shoulders in alarm to see if there was a wound, but laughed aloud as she found the white shirt underneath turned almost completely pink from the dyes of the fabric. "I'll have to wash that shirt right away," she said, hoping to save it. She knew it must have been a favorite of his, the shirt with the violet cross. 

Jr. didn't hear her at all as the last of his ability to stand up under his own power faded away. "Red's a bad color..." He mumbled, and leaned against MOMO and rested his head on her shoulder. His arms hung limply by his sides. "Alarms and warning signs and... violations and danger areas... red. I'm all covered up with it and filled up with it... Keep out is what it means. Stay away is what it means."

She smiled and stroked his back lovingly as his words trailed off into mumbles. "It's not," she said. "It's the color... of love."

"You smell really nice," he said, suddenly distracted from the rant by the scent of her hair. "Like a flower."

* * *

_I hate the color red._

He dreamed that someone was washing him with a cloth from a basin. It was a woman with a gentle touch. Though he would never burden the woman that became his mother with the knowledge of his existence, he used to wonder as a child what she would be like. For some reason, his mental image of her seemed very much like Juli Mizrahi, but brighter in spirit. She smelled like something sweet and hummed a song. He couldn't remember the melody.

She was rubbing his hair clean, taking the red out. As she washed him, his hair turned a nice, normal, auburn brown. She scolded him lightly and rubbed at his hand until the number faded away as if he'd drawn it on with childrens' markers.

_This is a dream_ he muttered, unable to hear his own voice. She washed his shoulders and his back, cleaning away the red stains. _Leave me alone._

Beads of red liquid stained the floor. _I'm sorry. You can't just wash it away for me._ he wondered, and the spots grew larger into pools. They expanded until he fell into one, and began to drown in the sticky warm substance. It soaked him, transforming him back to his true hue.

* * *

"It's just a dream," a sweet voice assured him, as he lingered in the space between sleep and full awareness. "Don't cry." It must be a part of the nightmare that he was having, he thought. MOMO couldn't really be here. He couldn't be that stupid. 

He awoke with a start when he felt the soft touch of warm fingers graze underneath his eyelid and over his cheek. Her hand darted away from his face as his eyes flitted open. They squinted shut again immediately as the light in the room blinded him. It was early morning, and though the sunlight filtering through the window was not bright at all, it hurt his eyes. His entire body ached and his head throbbed.

"Awake now?" she asked softly. From the pain in his head he doubted he was still dreaming, but didn't know how to answer. He forced his eyes open and found himself on his back in an unfamiliar bed. Red hearts and white stars cut from paper for decoration were hanging from the ceiling, twirling in a breeze. There was a stuffed bunny in the corner, larger than he was. His current location was painfully obvious.

He groaned and pulled his hand from under the warm blankets to cover his face in shame. "Damn," he grumbled. "I'm really here, aren't I?"

"Yes," MOMO replied. As his vision focused, he found her smiling down at him from a chair bedside the bed. "How do you feel?"

"Stupid," he muttered. He managed to restrain himself from using the more colorful adjectives he would have rather implemented. "Listen to me MOMO," he continued. "You should have just left me outside. I don't even remember coming here, but-"

"You don't deserve it?" MOMO interrupted. Her face was lit brightly with a smile. Behind her he saw that a window was open. It was still raining, but as a light calming haze now, rather than a torrential downpour. The sunlight was still hidden behind the clouds, but the room was lit enough to see.

"Huh?"

"You told me all about it already," she said. "At least that's the part I was able to make out."

"Oh," Jr. groaned. "What else did I say?"

"You told me all about my favorite color," she replied. He squinted trying to remember, but he couldn't even recall what color was her favorite, much less what he had said about it.

As he lifted himself to sit upright, he felt the cool air against his back and realized that his shirt was missing. He quickly pulled the blanket back up over his shoulders in embarrassment, checking the rest of himself over. His jeans were still there thankfully, but the leather coverings were gone along with his belt and other accessories.

"Your clothes were soaking wet and had dye stains all over," MOMO explained, "so I cleaned them and put them up to dry. I hope you don't mind. I think your shoes and leggings are ruined... You shouldn't walk through water with leather on."

Jr. shot a surprised glance at MOMO. "Don't you know what I've done?" he said. "I need to leave right now, it isn't right for me to be here."

MOMO shook her head. "No, I'm glad," she argued. "I'm happy that you came."

"But I'm a drunken idiot," Jr. retorted. "I'm the kind of guy that Ziggy is supposed to keep away from you."

"Maybe just a little," she giggled. "But I was really lonely. Mommy's going to be away for 3 days, and I was here by myself. Besides, something must be bothering you for you to be drinking so much... I want to be someone who you can come to when you feel that way. I don't want you to feel like there's no one you can turn to." 

Jr. stared back at her speechlessly in awe of her surprisingly mature outlook on the matter. "You're too understanding," he said. "I thought you'd be shocked and appalled. To be honest, I hoped you would be." His voice dropped to a grumble and he looked away. "Maybe that's why I came here, so you could see what I'm really like."

"Uh-huh," MOMO agreed, though she didn't seem to give the idea much thought. "That's kind of what you were saying... Did you eat anything before you drank?"

"Er, no..."

"You should," she said, and gave him another smile. "It dilutes the alcohol, keeps you from getting sick."

Another wave of guilt coursed through him as he imagined MOMO dragging him to bed, carrying him in her arms the way he was supposed to be there to carry her. "Don't tell me I got sick..."

"I was able to give you some medicine before that," she said, with another reassuring smile. "But maybe you aren't as much of a drinker as you think. If you were, you would be able to avoid getting sick and doing things you'd rather not, like coming here."

"I guess I can't help it if I'm a lightweight," Jr. said under his breath. He would have never expected MOMO to know what alcohol was, much less that she would have drinking tips for him. Before he could think of something else to say, his nose began to itch and he sneezed violently.

"Aw," MOMO cooed sympathetically, reaching for a tissue. He didn't really need one, but thanked her for it anyway. "You're sick," she said. "You got sick out there in the rain."

"I can't get sick," Jr. said, growing more irritated with his own stupidity with every passing moment. He sniffled angrily, displaying more evidence that he was ill despite his claims otherwise.

MOMO couldn't help herself and failed to stifle a laugh. She reached towards a nearby night stand and lifted a class of water. "Here, drink some," she said, handing it to him along with a small pill.

Jr. allowed himself to relax just a small amount at hearing that, and did as she asked. At least his misfortune was making her smile. "So where did you learn so much about this kind of thing?" 

"Traveling with Captain Matthews, I picked it up pretty fast," MOMO said. "He said I was a big help every time he had a hangover."

"I bet," Jr. replied. He looked around the room idly, realizing that the conversation was starting to sound like their normal discussions, like he was visiting for fun and not that he was despicable for coming here like this. "I should get out of here," he repeated, and began to sit up again, intent on leaving. "I don't want to trouble you anymore than I already have."

"No," MOMO said sadly, and reached her hand forward to touch his shoulder. "Please stay here and rest until you feel better. It's not any trouble." 

"This isn't how it's supposed to be," he explained, and pushed her hands gently away from him. "I'm supposed to protect you, I meant everything I said about not deserving this kind of treatment, I'm supposed to be the one-"

"But-" MOMO interrupted him. When he looked at her, he found her eyes expressing a deep sadness. "Can't you stay a while?" she pleaded. "I don't like..."

"I'm sorry," Jr. said. "I know you don't like what I'm doing, I'm really sorry about everything. But, I have to go."

"That's not it..." Her voice sounded weaker, almost fearful. "I was going to say... I don't like being apart. I was so happy to see you, I don't care if you only came here by accident."

Jr. sat back down in the bed and sighed, guilt-racked at the thought of making her sad. "How can I explain it to you," he said, scratching at his hair with one hand.

MOMO tilted her head examining him, trying to determine the cause of his stress. "Explain what?"

"Have you ever heard of the wolf who wears sheep's clothing?" he said, turning to face her. His eyes regained their usual vibrant blue luster as he waited for an answer. 

"I don't think so," MOMO replied.

"It's an old story they tell used to tell children to teach to them about the world," he said. Obviously he read it in a book, he would never explain something with such admiration otherwise. "They say that sometimes a wolf will wear wool to fool the sheep into thinking he's one of them."

"Don't trust strangers?" MOMO guessed. "Is that what it means?" 

Jr. shook his head. "Nuh-uh. It means that a friend can hurt you, even if they don't seem dangerous. I'm kind of like that wolf, see. I look like a kid, but I'm not really. I'm not all innocent and pure. I look like a sheep but I'm really a wolf, you understand? That's why I shouldn't be here, or I could hurt you." 

The response that came next took him by surprise. "I'm a wolf too!" she said defensively, hopping to sit on her knees in the chair. "And if I'm not, then... well.. I wanna be!" 

"Huh?" Jr. was dazed for a moment by her eagerness. "No-no, MOMO, you're not supposed to want to be a wolf, he's the bad guy in all the books. He's always the beast, and you're like uh... the little lamb." He nodded knowingly.

MOMO looked down at her lap sadly. "Can you make me into a wolf somehow?" she asked with a timid softness in her voice. "I don't like being the little lamb all the time. I want to help you. I want you to tell me about your problems and let me take care of you when you're sick, and I don't want to be away from you anymore."

Jr. let out a defeated breath of air. Rushed all at once with embarassment, frustration, and warmth, he smiled at her sweetness in spite of it all, and found it hard to complain. "Well I don't know about that," he said. "You just keep being you." 

"What you said reminds me of something I saw in a movie," she replied. "A romance movie."

Jr. looked up to find her watching him with the same vibrant expression in her eyes as he had when he spoke about his novels. Eager for the change of subject, he jumped on it. "A movie?" he said. "Those aren't as good as books are. Action movies are the best though!"

MOMO looked a little hurt. "I like romance movies," she said. "I learned some things from the movie I saw."

"What was it about?"

"It was about a girl that fell in love with a criminal, and then it turned out his crimes were just a matter of perspective and he wasn't really that bad! But then..."

"But?"

MOMO's expression dampened once again. "Both the young man and the girl died at the end of the movie. It was really sad."

"Oh," Jr. laughed awkwardly. "That kind of thing happens in books too. Don't worry about it, they just do that to make it dramatic. Someone's always got to die at the end."

"Well," MOMO continued, very shyly and modestly. "I also learned more about what humans do when they're in love. It was fun."

"You mean like kissing and stuff?" Jr. asked with a grimace on his face. 26-years old on the inside or not, he reacted to it like a boy afraid of contracting an imaginary infection carried by girls. 

"Um..." MOMO's cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "Well... not just that."

"Who took you to see _that_ kind of movie?" Jr. spat out without thinking about what he was saying.

"Shion," MOMO answered. "She came to visit me with KOS-MOS and her friend Miyuki. I got a 'makeover' too. I'm still not sure what that means, but apparently its a kind of transformation you do at the mall."

"What gave them that crazy idea?"

"Why is it crazy? I though it was fun."

Jr. realized he had just dug himself into a hole. "Because... you look just fine already," he said.

MOMO became even more embarrassed and held her small hands to her face modestly. "Thank you," she said. She smiled, and that made him smile in return, despite his conscious attempt not to.

He realized then that he was beginning to feel better, not just since last night, but more than he had in a long time. Here they were talking about books and movies as if they were normal people who met under normal circumstances. He drew in a deep breath of the air scented with rain and allowed himself to enjoy this sense of relaxation, selfish as he believed it was.

"So, um... what do you think of me?" she asked him suddenly, in a sheepish tone.

"Huh?" Jr. opened his eyes widely and blinked them. "About how you look?"

MOMO shook her head embarrassedly. "Oh, no! I'm sorry. I just want to know some things, like... how old do you think I am? I'm not really sure, so I'm asking everyone what they think about me."

"How old?" Jr. repeated, and realized that no immediate answers were surfacing. "Did you ask Shion?"

"Uh-huh," MOMO nodded. "Shion said that she thinks I'm older than I look, but still younger than she is, because I am like a younger sister. KOS-MOS said... well, something in numbers about being adolescent instead of prepubescent... something like that."

Jr. looked for an answer to her question. "I never really thought about it. I guess you're the same as me in a lot of ways. But uh..." He glanced down at his hands, remembering that those words were not true, for one very specific and defining reason. MOMO was a being of purity.

"Hey, um..." He looked at her, and she returned the glance ready to give an answer to whatever it was he might ask. "Why do you," he began, looking for a way to state the question that wouldn't hurt her feelings. "Why do you call your mom 'mommy'?"

A small gasp was the reaction to the question. His eyes opened wider in alarm at the noise. "It's a secret," she said, nearly in a whisper. "I mean... I didn't think that anyone noticed. And its not really a good reason." 

Jr. sat up straighter in curiosity, allowing the blanket to fall to his hips. He folded his legs into a crossed position that he found comfortable. "It's okay," he said. "I mean, you can tell me. How can it be such a big deal?"

MOMO looked away modestly. "Because... I know that _Sakura_ called her 'Mom.' ...I wanted to say something different so that I wouldn't make her sad. She is so sad when anything reminds her of Sakura." 

His expression softened in understanding. Her head lifted and turned back to him as she felt his hand clap onto her shoulder supportively. "No problem," he said calmly. "MOMO... I don't want you ever to feel like you are supposed to be someone else, like you aren't real."

At the mention of that phrase, _aren't real_, she shook slightly. His eyes narrowed as he realized that this must be the point of her distress. He felt guilt for not making this clear to her sooner, for being such a coward. "You are a real girl just like anyone else. I know that Doctor Mizrahi doesn't think of you that way either, at least not anymore. I know... its the same thing with my name. But it's okay. I like this name because... Jr. is what you call me."

Her small frown weakened but refused to leave he face entirely. "But I know you're not really Gaignun's son," she said. "And your real name is pretty..."

Jr. smiled and decided that a joke might make her feel better. "Are you saying my name sounds bad?" he teased, and laughed openly. That child-like tone hadn't been in his voice in months. It surprised him. MOMO held her hands to her face to hide a giggle. He took pride in that accomplishment, and grinned.

"No, not at all!" MOMO said, almost in lightly scolding, almost motherly tone. Jr. laughed again.

"Uh well... I mean that's like your special name for me. Only my friends call me that. Them and Gaignun..." At the thought of his brother, his spirits dropped. His hand fell back from her shoulder into his own lap.

"I'll keep calling you Jr. then," she agreed softly and out of concern, though the words he had just spoke made her smile warmly. His eyes fell away from hers, and she knew that something was wrong. "Gaignun isn't well, is he?" she asked him in a soothing tone.

"No," he answered, and cast his eyes aside, heaving deep sigh. "No... he's not. The last time I saw him is when you saw him, in fact." 

"Oh," MOMO said sadly, looking down at her hands folded on her lap. "You're worried about him..."

"Of course," he replied with a tired sigh. "He's all I've got left. And it doesn't look good."

"I'm worried about him too," she said. "What happened?"

Though he hid his fears from everyone else, he found himself sharing them with MOMO naturally. "Ever since I got the message from Yuriev, he's been totally ignoring me," he explained. "He denied all my requests to meet, I can't even go to his place because he didn't tell me where he is staying. He cut me off and won't tell me why. At this distance I can't even establish a link. That scares me. Yuriev's faction is in full swing again. I'm really afraid... that he's gotten to him." MOMO realized that as he spoke, his hands clutched the blanket tightly in balled fists. "I can't do a damn thing about it."

After a moment of absorbing the information and his inner turmoil in silence, MOMO moved to the very edge of her chair. "I know that you can," she said.

Jr. laughed bitterly at himself. "I can't do anything."

"It's not like you to say that," she replied, leaning forward and placing her palms on the bed, face painted with worry. Her voice was almost a whimper. "It's been this way... since you fought Albedo, hasn't it? You seemed fine when you came back, but... that was just an act wasn't it? You were just trying to keep me and the others happy again."

That was the first time he'd actually heard the name spoken since that day. Nobody wanted to talk about it. "I'm fine," he lied. "Don't worry about me." 

She put her weight on her hands and slipped onto the bed. He pulled away from her to maintain the space between them without thinking about it. "No... you're not," she argued, though disagreeing was obviously not her strong point. The softness of her voice did work to her advantage, nevertheless. He didn't withdraw further or shut himself out as she leaned near him. "What you did tonight was not healthy in any way. You can't do this again..." 

Jr. turned his head away from her at a sharp angle, disgusted at himself. "I don't care," he said. "My will to live is so damn persistent that I killed my own brother to preserve it." 

MOMO touched her hand to his arm. Jr. grimaced and resisted the urge to flinch away, guessing what she would say next. _But you had to do it,_ or _There was no other way. Its not your fault._ Things that failed to work when he said them to himself. Hearing them from someone who didn't understand the situation was only going to make him angry.

"You only did what he wanted you to do," she said. "You set him free. I'm sure that now he will rest in peace, and wait patiently until... we're all together."

"Why can't it be now?" His emotional composition began to deteriorate, and he choked on the last word. "Why did he have to die?"

She sat on her knees and reached out for him. He didn't object to her embrace, though he was hesitant to accept it. She hugged his shoulders and encouraged him to rest his head against her. He buried his face against her as if could hide in her softness and purity from everything that was wrong.

"Its okay," she cooed, and threaded her fingers through the color that she loved so much. "I don't know why my sister died even though you were fighting for her life, or why Albedo died even when you swore to save him. It is not fair. It isn't because you didn't try your hardest. You tried with everything you had, I know you did."

Jr. began to cry softly and held her tiny waist tightly in his arms. "My best wasn't good enough," he said in muffled words, though her presence kept him from sobbing. "Why am I still alive?" 

"I don't know," she said again, affectionately rubbing his hair. This instilled him with a sense of comfort, as all humans and primates alike instinctively sought this sensation. He took a deep, shaky breath. "But I am glad that you're alive," MOMO continued. "If you died then... I would... I..." 

Jr.'s crying ceased, and he slowly slipped out of her grip. He rose to sit face to face with her on the bed, and stared speechlessly for a moment. "That's right," he said. "You wanted me to come back. And I know why... I know that you must have strong feelings for me, MOMO..."

MOMO drew back slightly, embarrassed. It was her assumption that Jr. was entirely oblivious to her, and what she felt for him. "I do," she said meekly.

"Thank you," he said. "I wish that I could return these feelings to you, but..."

She looked down at her hands. "I know... I'm a realian... I'm just a little girl who will never grow. It's alright. But... as long as I can stay with you, and help you..."

"No," Jr. said sharply. "All of those things make you even more precious to me. I can't because it wouldn't be right. I can't accept your kindness and be happy... and escape my sorrow in you like this, because I've failed too many people that I love already."

MOMO shook her head, sending the strands of her candy-colored hair twirling. Tears began to form in the golden pools of her eyes. "It isn't something you have to prove anything for!" she said loudly, setting him back an inch or two in surprise. "I want you to be happy, that's what I want! I would never wish suffering on you or take my own life knowing how it would agonize you like they did, I only want you to be yourself again!"

"MOMO," Jr. gasped. A bit louder, and she would be yelling at him. "I can't..."

"Say you can do anything!" MOMO pleaded.

"What?"

Her eyes looked straight into his, piercing and demanding. "Say that you can do anything, Jr.! If you can just believe again that you can't lose, that is all I want!"

"I-" Jr. forcibly stopped himself from saying can't again. "I just..."

MOMO turned her head down, and hid her face with the puffy bangs that covered her forehead. She rubbed her eyes as tears seeped out. Jr. watched her intensely, hardly able to breath. They became suspended in a silence that lasted for several moments. MOMO wondered if Jr. would simply leave and forget her. He wondered if he had just broken her heart. Nothing was right. If he stayed, he hurt her. If he left, he hurt her more.

_Where did I go?_ he asked himself, mouthing the words. _What happened to me?_ It wasn't his nature to stay down after being kicked. This is not who he was. He had been through death before, and survived the loneliness. He would always be able to get back up and fight as long as there was someone who needed him, and she did. She wasn't asking anything of him. Her happiness came from his happiness, and he realized that this was genuine because he felt the same way for her.

MOMO made a small, surprised noise as Jr. took her chin gently in his hand and raised her face too look at him. "You're right," he said. His face turned to a smile. It was just the hint of a brilliant, cocky, completely egotistical, grin that began to spread as she drew in a hopeful breath. "With you on my side... There's no way I can lose. I'm sorry I've been such an idiot."

She gasped deeply, and then released the breath all in one word. "Jr.!" she said, as if they were just meeting again. She laughed and threw herself into him. "Do you mean it?" He caught her and had to try hard to keep himself from being thrown onto his back.

"Yeah," he said, the traces of tears gone. "For you. I'd do anything for you." 

MOMO pulled back enough to look at his face, leaving her arms draped around his neck. Her cheeks were flushed pink. "Are you sure that you are okay? I never heard you say something like that before..."

"Heh," Jr. laughed nervously, and looked someplace other than at her eyes. "Well... I said it before, but it was when you were sick."

MOMO smiled a bit at his choice of words, _sick_, not _offline_. "Thank you, Jr." she said, an took her arms back. "Now I will... I will finish washing your clothes and make breakfast for you, then we can go look for Gaignun in the city together! We can save him, I promise!"

"Sounds good," Jr. replied, and grinned. Even if it didn't work, it would be doing something, rather than lying back and letting fate run over him.

MOMO touched her lip in thought as if pondering how to close their conversation. "Um," she said in a sound that was more a squeak than a word. Then she leaned towards him again so far that she nearly toppled over, and kissed his cheek tenderly. "Feel better, Jr.!" she chirped excitedly, and hopped from the bed while he was still in a state of mildly surprised paralysis.

"Uh, yeah..." he mumbled as she left the room quickly. He threw off the blankets and hung his legs over the side of the bed, pressing his hand to his face where her lips touched him. He rubbed his fingers across the kiss, detecting a feint residue. He inspected them to find a hint of sheer pink gloss that smelled like some kind of flower. A gift from her outing with Shion, it must have been. The familiarity of his pose at the moment never occurred to him.

_It is a lighter shade of red, I guess..._


	15. entry 17 overflow, 18 perfect blue

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 17 and 18!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:  
This is rated teen because though the situation is notably sexual, it does not involve any characters having sex, or get into detail about nudity, or anything like that. 

**"Time to Spare"**  
30kisses Challenge #27: overflow

Description: one-shot, alternate reality pre-Xenosaga 3  
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)

* * *

It was a quiet evening at Gaignun Kukai's private beach. Jr. sat on the steps that led to the door of the beach house, silently watching the illusion of a sunset without an actual sun overtake the lake in gold and violet. 

He had been in long need of a vacation, and MOMO just as much, though she never complained about the work they did or how strenuous it must be on a small girl, realian or not. They weren't able to get very far away, but the beach felt distant enough when no one else was there. The original plan was to invite everyone to the weekend trip, but when they all replied to say they couldn't make it, he saw no reason to cancel the trip.

It had been a fun day, despite their lack of company. The beach games did not feel trite as he expected, though they were simple one-on-one routines to pass the time. They watched one of his favorite old action movies on a big screen on the porch, and went swimming off and on. MOMO recently discovered that she could swim, having found the ability already in her systems when he attempted to instruct her. While he watched the sky fade into dark, star-spotted black he wondered how long she'd pretended she needed help so as not to ruin his lesson.

Laughing at himself for that, he turned his head into the house and wondered what was taking her so long. He forgot to ask why she was going inside nearly half an hour earlier when she left. Deciding he should investigate, he got to his feet. A sudden playful mood struck him as it often would, and he crept silently into the beach-side cabin to find her.

She was not hard to spot with her bright pink hair, tip-toeing down the dim hallway in a terry-cloth robe over her swimsuit. He didn't give much thought to why she would be trying to walk down the hall without being noticed. It seemed, innocently enough to him, like a perfect opportunity to surprise her. He tended to forget that MOMO was an observational realian, and that she could sense him coming from a mile away unless he was wearing stealth armor or something of the sort.

When he reached out to grab her shoulder, laughing "Ha ha! There you are!" she cried a sharp yelp and flinched away with a shake for an entirely different reason, having seen him coming. Her reaction was so unexpected that the slight unbalance caused by her shudder made him trip forward.

Its amazing how much the mind can process in a such a short moment, when faced with an inevitable impact. In this case, Jr. knew that he and MOMO were about to hit the ground and that it was entirely his fault. _Why did she flinch?_ he thought for a split second. _What did I do? _Then in occurred to him that there were no bathing suit straps visible under the robe she'd been wearing when he decided to surprise her. _Damn, damn this is bad! _

Their impact against the ground was not violent or painful. He did his best to absorb the shock himself, cupping his arms around her as they both tumbled to the ground. When he regained his bearings, his fears were confirmed. He was on his elbows and knees over her form and there was no blue bathing suit underneath the robe that now hung wide open, only his dark shadow cast across her soft, peaches and cream complexion.

It would have helped him a good deal had she pushed him away and covered herself, but though her face was redder than it had ever been, she did not flinch and made no effort to move. She wore a slight smile and stared up at him with her golden eyes and flushed cheeks.

"Sorry! Sorry!" he stammered, trying to regain his balance. "I didn't know, I didn't mean too!"

As he pulled away and tried to avert his line of vision, her hand reached out to his face an held him still around the neck, capturing his eyes with an innocent but longing gaze. "We could..." she said meekly, her voice soft and sweet as ever. "We could pretend that you did..."

He froze stiff, utterly shocked, and didn't move as she lifted her head up using her arms for support and pressed her lips against his slightly agape mouth. Though he didn't intend for this to be interpreted as an invitation, she took it as one and pressed her tongue past his lips.

More thoughts came to him, though they were somewhat disjointed, and understandably so. _How did this happen all of the sudden?_ he wondered. _Why so fast?_

After gaining a small grip on the situation, he returned MOMO's kiss for just a moment before ending it and pulling himself out of her grasp. He quickly wrapped the robe back around her shoulders and tied the sash at her waist into a proper knot once she was modestly covered. He didn't know what to say, so he placed an innocent peck of a kiss against her forehead to let her know that nothing was wrong.

"I... I'm so sorry," MOMO apologized, and turned her head down in shame. They both sat upright now on the floor in the hallway facing each other. She pressed one hand to her face, fretting over what she had done. "I don't know what's wrong with me... I suddenly felt like if I let you go, I'd just... overflow."

Jr. laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Ah don't worry about it," he said. "I mean its uh... nice of you to offer..." a poor choice of words, he knew it was.

MOMO looked up slightly to find that his face was just as flushed as hers as he turned the other direction. "But," she continued for him. "But... you don't feel the same... in that way... I understand."

Jr.'s head snapped back to her, slightly dazed. "Huh? No, no! I do!" he sputtered. "Uh... I mean no, I don't want to um... Ah, crap. I'm just digging myself a deeper hole here."

They made eye contact again and Jr. smiled awkwardly, while she returned the expression with a confused one. He moved to her side and touched her shoulder in a reassuring fashion. "I mean," he explained, careful to think about what he was saying. "Someday... I may take you up on that." He nearly choked over the words in embarrassment, but remained steady. "But look, we've got all the time in the world. There's no reason to go getting all carried away over little accidents like this."

She nodded, though she still seemed hesitant to speak for the shame she felt, and leaned her head onto his shoulder. It was slightly uncomfortable as she was actually a bit taller than he was, but she needed him to accept that touch at least, and he did. After allowing her to rest against him for a moment, he remembered that they were out in the hallway of the beach house, and prompted her to stand. "You look tired," he said, and pushed open a door nearby. "There's some extra clothes in that bedroom. Why don't you put on something to sleep in, and lets call it a night?"

"Okay," she answered softly, and swiftly disappeared into the room.

Once she was out of sight, he took a deep breath and shook his head clear. He thought about the time. There was a lot he needed to sort out n his head, and he was tired at that.

After pushing through the door into the room opposite MOMO's, he removed his jacket and shoes and sat down on the bed to wait. As he expected, MOMO came to see him once she was dressed in a long night gown that covered her from neck to ankle, and stood in the doorway. She didn't have to say anything to let him know that she still wanted something. Whether it was to apologize again, to receive reassuring a hug, or just to say good night, he didn't know; and it was unlikely that she knew just what it was either.

"If you want," he started, not entirely sure he should ask this or not, "I'd like it if you'd stay with me tonight. I mean... not in that way, but..."

Her face lightened a bit and she entered the room. His eyes followed her as she approached gracefully and sat next to him. "Is it okay... really?"

Jr. looked down at his feet for a moment thinking and then nodded in reply. "Yeah. I mean... let's not do anything crazy. I just thought it would be nice to see you when I open my eyes again."

MOMO laughed softly and poured her warmest smile on him. "Okay," she said, this time with a sweet but confident tone. "Well then... goodnight."

He smiled back at her as she tucked herself into the sheets. "Goodnight," he replied. Then he turned off the light and rolled over into bed himself, leaving just enough space between them to share in each other's warmth without sharing too much, to know that she was there even in the darkness.

* * *

HA! That was so corny. Now, for the next entry, which is a fanart one. Here ya go: 

**"blue"**  
30kisses Challenge #15: perfect blue

http/img133.imageshack.us/img133/291/blue2ew.jpg

See you next time!


	16. entry 19 our distance and that person

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 19!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:  
I'm not too proud of this one, but I wanted Momo and Sakura to talk to each other. I like Sakura. I like Sakura x Rubedo. (Gasp!) Yes, they can coexist. 

**"That Person"**  
30kisses Challenge #4: our distance and that person

Description: one-shot, any time after Xenosaga II's disc 1.  
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)

* * *

_Ever since the encephalon dive into her subconscious, Momo had been experiencing unsettling dreams. It was as if all of her memories had been tossed up into the air, and were falling in random places around her feet whenever she closed her eyes. In an attempt to sort the jumbles information in her her psyche, she began to sort aimlessly through the research data left to her by her father. The Y-DATA had been stripped out, but there were still bits and pieces of things that might remind her of her father accessible in her memory. This was until she came across a strange file unmarked, and noted simply as "A Letter for my Sister." She was hesitant to open it, fearful of what message it might contain. This entire subject was delicate for her. At the same time, it seemed too good to be true. Could this really be a letter from Sakura herself? A quick scan revealed that this information was roughly fourteen years old, created at just about the exact time when Sakura died, and she was born. Taking a deep breath, she chose to activate the data. _

DECODED MESSAGE.

I'm not sure if you will receive this. It's a long shot, but, here it goes.

Hello, sister.

It sounds weird to call someone that, but I'm not sure what your name is yet. Maybe I can call you Sis then? Let's start over.

Hi, Sis!

I hope that you had a good day today, and well... every other day that I'm not able to tell you good morning. Then again, we can't always have good days. If we did, then good days wouldn't be very fun. But anyway, I hope that you had a good day today.

I had a very good day, myself. Rubedo came to see me. They sent him alone today and without the others, because they found out that he is the best at healing me. He came, and we didn't have to run tests or fight or anything. He just played with me all day. I was so happy. It's not that I don't like Nigredo and Albedo, I am so grateful to all three of them. But, Rubedo is special to me. When I am with him, I feel warm. Its a feeling that I would risk being selfish for. I wish that I could stay with him forever, but I know that I can't. It might be selfish of me, what I did today, but I think that I need to enjoy life a little. He does too. And if I left him without letting him know, somehow, I'd always regret it.

What I did, its kind of embarrassing, but you are my Sis, so I will tell you. It can be a secret for us. I like the idea of telling you secrets even though we will never meet. It makes me feel like I really can speak to you. So, here it goes. My secret is that I kissed Rubedo today! I did, on his cheek. It was really funny how he looked. His face was as red as his hair. It's fun to kiss someone, I think. You should try it too, if you haven't before. Please, do it for me!

I hope that Rubedo will be okay. I know he is strong, but he can get lost easily. He will be the one to lose something when I am gone. I'm sure that he will blame himself. What can I do? All I can do is give him something to keep going for. A promise.

I don't know if you will need someone to take care of you or not. I know that you will want to take care of yourself. I would too. But, I told Rubedo to take care of you. I hope you don't mind. It's because after I'm gone, he'll need someone to care about. He will need to know that there's still somebody out there who needs him. He doesn't live for anything else. So please let him do that, I know it will make him very happy. Please need him, for me. I can't need him anymore, and I don't want him to need me.

I heard that the flower I am named after is very beautiful, but falls very quickly after it blooms. You are going to be named after a flower too, mom said. I wonder what your flower is like. I wish that we could meet face to face and share things like that. We could plant both flowers in the back yard and they could grow together. Then when we are all grown up, we could look back and say, do you remember the day we planted these? They're so big now! I wish that could happen.

I wonder what I would look like grown up, and you too. We could be like twins... just like Albedo and Rubedo. I wonder what they will look like when they grow up. I wish that I could see it. I guess that I will never be thought of as a grown-up. I will always be remembered and thought of as a twelve-year-old girl. I read a quote once. It said "the only way to acquire eternal youth is to die young," and maybe it's true.

I'm sorry this letter is so weird. I have an overactive imagination. Its because I have spent a lot of time alone. Well, there are people all around me all the time. I don't pay them attention though, because its too frustrating. I want to tell them that I can hear them, but I can't say any words. I used to try and try until I just started crying. I don't get it I couldn't speak, but my body would cry. It just made everyone sad, so I stopped trying. So please, talk to everyone. Be friends with everyone you can, I would like that very much.

Even though we will never meet, somehow I know that we will always be together. If you can live a long and full life, then I'll be happy. Part of me will always be with you. You will never be alone, and neither will Rubedo. Please be bold and outgoing. Be brave and don't let any moment pass by. Because you'll be living for me, too. I'll live somehow through you.

When you love someone, let them know it right away.

The last thing is, I wrote this poem. I wanted to sing it someday to the tune Rubedo plays for me on his harmonica, but I will never get to. I don't want to sing it in the encephalon, with my fake voice. I wanted it to be real. If you would do me a big favor, please sing this song sometime.

ATTACHMENT.

_Below were lyrics to a song written out. They were words that Momo did not understand. Perhaps they were of a language that Sakura had created out of loneliness. Momo's eyes welled with tears momentarily, before she pushed them back and made a plan for the next day. _

NEW MESSAGE.

Dear Sis,

I am writing back to you even though I have no address to send this letter to, because I think that somehow you will be able to hear me. I have a few things to tell you, to answer for you, and to ask of you in return.

I've been trying my best to fill in for you. I'm not sure if I'm doing a good job. Mom hasn't ever been very happy with me. Recently it seems better, but I'm still not sure. When I almost died, it really got to her. I suppose I shouldn't have done that. It was because of Albedo, and because I wanted to protect what Daddy gave to me. I didn't want that man to touch me again, so I hurt myself. I still feel bad. If Daddy is with you, then tell him that I love him please, and that I'm sorry I couldn't do any of the things he wanted me too. That is what I wanted to tell him.

As for Albedo, he is dead now. I can't bring myself to hate him, even after everything that he has done to me and to Jr., but I am relieved that he is gone. It's rest for him, and for all of us, sad as it is. I suppose he is with you, now. So, you can see what he looks like, all grown up, if you want to. I hope that he is Jr.'s little brother again, wherever he is, as you remember him.

Gaignun, or Nigredo is what you called him, is all grown up. He's handsome, and a great leader. Everyone loves him. He's been very kind to me, and his personality is kind of funny. He's so calm and makes jokes with a straight face. He seems reserved though. It almost seems like he's afraid of being close to anyone. Actually, it seems that I know a lot of people like that. Everyone should take your advice right? I certainly will.

That makes me think about Jr. Rubedo is called Jr. now. He hasn't grown any more than you have, and neither have I. I'm not sure that we ever will. You don't need to worry. He's happy. Its true that he's been through a lot after losing you and Albedo, and then loosing Albedo for a second time in the worst possible way, but his spirit is always soaring. I admire him so much for that. I can never look back or turn my head down as long as he is able to smile. It's like you said, I feel warm whenever I think of him.

Thank you, Sakura. I know that we are different people, and yet that at the same time, I am living for you as well as myself. I took your advice, and sang your song for him. I'm sure it sounded awful, but I was happy to hear his harmonica. He liked it very much. When I told him that the title was "Sakura" he just smiled at me.

I also decided, thanks to your words I had the courage to confront the person who I love, and I kissed someone today, just like you wanted me too. I do need him, and not because he needs me to.

I love you, Sakura. from Momo, your sister.

P.S. It means peach, the peach blossom, I was told, represents a maiden's hope. I planted both a peach tree and a cherry tree outside.

END MESSAGE.

_She sent the letter, just to make it seem more like she was really writing to someone. Then she left the room, the connection gear still active on her table. _

UNDELIVERED MESSAGE. DECODING FAILURE. END OPERATION.

Way to go!


	17. entry 20 dash

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 20!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:  
X.x I have been so godawful busy lately! Nooo... I want to write Find Us Peace but I only have time for these one-shots! Oh well, for now. This fic, I had it on my mind for a while. It's just another dosage of fluff, really. Nothing special. But I figure, if you've made it this far then you won't mind. The main idea is from if you talk to MOMO on the Elsa while Shion is running around on one of those stupid busy-jobs.

**"Spicy Sweet"**  
30kisses Challenge #9: dash

Description: one-shot, after Xenosaga 2.  
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)

* * *

_clang!_ "Whoops! I'm so sorry!"

Mary heard MOMO's voice as she entered the Durandal's main kitchen. They had a few chefs on board to keep the crew happy and well-fed. MOMO was not one of them, however, which caused the young tactical officer some confusion as she passed by.

She poked her head into the kitchen to find MOMO and a young man wearing a chef's hat standing face to face over a pan that had clattered against the ground. "I'm so sorry!" MOMO exclaimed. The chef laughed and picked up the pan.

"It's okay," he said. "That was my fault."

Mary stepped behind the chef just as he picked up the tray. Before he realized that she was there, she poked him hard in the back with her index finger and shouted, "Hey there!"

"Ah!" he wailed, and dropped the pan again. MOMO flinched through an apathetic smile as it clattered loudly against the ground for a second time. "M-Miss Mary! You scared me!"

"Aw, go on," Mary teased. "Don't you need to start working on dinner?"

The skittish chef shook his head. "Oh yes well, on my break I was helping MOMO with a recipe!"

Mary's brow raised in interest. "Oh?"

"It's okay," MOMO said to the young man. "I think I have everything I need now. I promise I will clean up after I'm done."

"Okay well then if you're sure," he said, and than as if he was somewhat intimidated by the innocently grinning Mary (for reasons MOMO could only begin to imagine) he quickly said his goodbyes and left.

Mary turned to MOMO. "So, why are you in the kitchen?" she asked. "Hungry?"

"No, not at all," MOMO replied in a small, sheepish voice. "I was... hoping to learn a recipe."

She leaned closer to MOMO curiously and asked in her heavy accent, "What for? You know you can have it all ordered!"

"Because," MOMO said, even quieter. "Someday I want to be a good wife, and so..."

Mary groaned and shook her head. "Yeah right, because women are _all_ about the domestic labor. Who told you that?"

"No one," she said, and began to wonder if she had done something wrong. "I just want to make someone happy someday."

"Well, I guess I understand," Mary answered, and looked over the ingredients placed before MOMO. "Huh," she mumbled, noting the spices. "What are you making?"

MOMO turned her head to look away shyly. "Curry," she said. "With rice, and a desert cake afterwards."

"_Oh..._ I get it," Mary laughed, and a frighteningly playful grin appeared on her face. She knew all too well who's favorite food happened to be curry. "Well then... do you have the recipe and everything?"

MOMO nodded. "I was going to make it right now..."

"Then we'll have curry for dinner!" Mary proclaimed energetically.

"I'll make enough for four," MOMO said. "You and me, Jr. and Shelley."

Mary's weight shifted and she planted her hands on her hips. "Are you sure you want the two of us there?"

"Yes!" MOMO said, her head bobbing up and down. "Your family, all together! Well... except for Gaignun..."

"Ah, right," Mary replied, scratching her head in annoyance. "I wish he'd hurry on back here." Quickly switching modes again, she perked up and slapped one hand into the opposing palm. "It's decided then! We'll eat whenever you're ready!"

"Okay," MOMO agreed, and she began to prepare the food.

* * *

Later that evening the places were set and Jr. was wrangled by Mary and her violet-haired older sister to sit at a table. It was one of many in the Durandal's dining hall, which was empty at this hour accept for their small group.

"Ow! Hey!" he shouted as Mary pushed him down into a chair. "What's the big idea?" He looked up to find Mary laughing boisterously while Shelley merely gave him an evilly pleased sort of smirk.

"You are going to eat this and you are going to like it," Mary demanded, and Jr. returned her glare with an expression expressing fear for his very life. "If you say one negative word about this I'm going to wring your pretty little neck!"

"_What?_" Jr. coughed. "What's going on? I was just gonna eat a sandwich and call it a night!"

"I do believe that MOMO prepared our meal this evening," Shelley answered, pulling up her own chair. Mary did the same directly across from Jr., both so that MOMO could sit next to him and so that she could easily kick him without fearing retaliation from his dramatically shorter legs.

He perked up at the mention of the unique 100-series realian girl. "MOMO did?" he asked, first sounding piqued in interest, and then quickly changing his mind. "Why? She's been through a lot, she doesn't need to do any work at all! That's why we have chefs!" he glared at Mary in accusation. "What did you _do_?"

"I didn't do anything!" Mary scolded in return. "She just wants to do something nice for you! So you better SHUT UP and LIKE IT."

As the two hot-headed commanders glared lightning bolts into each other across the reach of the table, Shelley stood and cleared her throat. "Excuse me, I will go to see if MOMO needs assistance."

There was a feint growling noise across the table until Shelley returned with glasses and plates. MOMO followed behind carrying a large pot.

"Hey there MOMO," Jr. said in greeting. MOMO's face displayed a sweet, delicate smile which barely contained her abundant energy. He returned the expression with an awkward grin. "You know, you didn't really have to-OUCH!" This was accompanied by the sound of Mary's boot impacting against Jr.'s shin underneath the tablecloth.

MOMO half-smiled at the attack, not entirely sure what it had been for but happy that they were acting like a family of sorts. "I thought that it would be nice to have dinner all together, you have been such wonderful hosts to me."

Jr. opened his mouth to speak again but Shelley coughed into her hand hushing him without even needing to resort to physical violence. "There's still the rice," she noted afterwards.

"Oh right!" MOMO stammered, and hopped back towards the kitchen.

Jr. immediately dropped his nice face and stared daggers at both the women. "What is the big idea hushing me like that?"

"Lil' Mastah!" Mary scolded again. "You better just behave and don't complain about nothin' or els I'll- well, you don't wanna know!"

"I wasn't complaining!" Jr. spat back at her in his defense. Then the kitchen door opened again and everyone fell silent as MOMO emerged with the food. Shelley helped her serve the portions, and then the two of them took their seats across from each other on either side of Mary and Jr.

MOMO looked nervously at the food she had prepared. "I um... I didn't test it yet..."

"I'm sure it's JUST FINE," Mary said before Jr. could speak, and gave him a death-glare again. Jr. grimaced and really wished that Gaignun were back. The Godwin sisters reigned with iron fists without him around.

MOMO smiled weakly in return and scooped up a bit of the curry with her spoon. The others took this as a cue, and did the same. They all ate their first bite...

Then they all began coughing violently as their tongues were assaulted by an extreme spice. Even MOMO herself, who had a nano-repair function to help stop the burning, dove for her drink.

"Geez, MOMO!" Mary coughed. "How much spice did you put in that?"

MOMO coughed as well. "Oh no," she whimpered. "I must have misinterpreted!"

"Which part?" Shelley asked. "I'll take this up with the writer of the recipe, most definitely."

"No-no-no, its my fault," MOMO replied. "It said 'add a _dash_' and I couldn't find the term in my database, so I guessed... it seemed like a very extreme sort of word, so I thought it meant a large amount."

"Aw that's okay," Mary said, and stood to give MOMO a pat on the shoulder. "We'll fix the recipe and try again tomorrow. How about that?"

"Okay," MOMO agreed. "I'm sorry everyone."

There was a brief pause, and then Jr. spoke. "No way," he said gruffly. The three women turned to look at him quizzically and in shock as he lifted another bite with his spoon.

"Jr.," MOMO said meekly, raising her hand to stop him from taking another bite. "You really don't have to eat it, I made a simple mistake, I know it's bad... it really won't offend me if you don't eat it." Still, he didn't put the spoon down.

"Yeah, Lil' Mastah," Mary added. "It's the cook's fault, really!"

"I said I am going to eat this!" he barked back ferociously as Shelley tried to take his plate. MOMO was startled by his outburst, and sat back down in her chair. He took a deep breath, and continued gravely though calmly. "MOMO cooked this meal for _me_, and I'm _going_ to eat it." They gasped as Jr. took a huge bite of the fire-laced curry and somehow managed to talk, though through a broken voice, after doing so. "It doesn't matter what it tastes like. She made it for _me_."

MOMO was speechless. Although flattered, at the same time she worried for Jr.'s health. He was sweating as he continued to scarf down the curry in his usual style, his heart rate was going up. She monitored him closely while at a total loss of what to say, her mouth hanging slightly agape.

"His intestinal track must be made of steel," Shelley marveled as she watched.

"Stop being so macho!" Mary scolded him. "Keep eating that and you'll be on the toilet for days!"

Her sister looked up at her, putting an elegant finger to her lips curiously. "Do you think its because he's a URTV he can withstand such punishment?"

"I dunno but I ain't gonna be anywhere near whatever restroom he takes it all out on later!"

"HEY!" Jr. barked again. "You two shut up, I'm trying to eat!" He was done with the plate, and in a dramatic show, held it out to MOMO with both hands, bowing his head reverently. "Seconds, please, Ma'am."

Mary fumed at the the response. Before she had a chance to lash out and smack Jr., Shelley grabbed her by the arm. "Well," the elder sister said, "We had best find something to eat, since Little Master will do away with all of this on his own. Besides, those who do not eat will not receive dessert."

"But no!" Mary complained, remembering that detail. "Hey, I still want cake!"

"No," Shelley said firmly, dragging her sister to the door. "Now come along."

Mary continued to struggle but eventually gave in and allowed herself to be pulled from the room. MOMO watched them leave anxiously, wishing that they would stay. She wasn't eating the curry herself, and sat idly in the room alone with Jr. over the sound of him barely chewing as he shoved more food into his mouth.

"It's not really _that_ bad once you start eating a lot of it," he said in a curry-muffled voice.

MOMO gave him an apathetic smile and shook her head gently. "Your taste buds have probably just gone numb by now, but... thank you for eating my food."

"Thank you for making food for me," he said in return. "I think I'm full now, so is there really cake?"

"Um," MOMO began hesitantly. "Don't force yourself to eat it..."

"Nonsense!" he declared. "You'd have to screw up pretty bad to make a cake I couldn't eat!"

MOMO smiled in spite of herself and went to the kitchen to bring the cake to the table. It was a simple chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, and milk chocolate beads sprinkled on top. A huge grin appeared on Jr.'s face when he saw it, and only broadened as MOMO cut him a piece and served it to him.

She took a breath in anticipation and braced herself as they both took the first bite. Tasting it, she opened her eyes in surprise. It was good. The cake was rich, and the icing was sweet. She glanced over at Jr. to find him eating more slowly, perhaps to enjoy the flavor.

"This is really great," he said. Though simple, it was a frank statement. MOMO blushed, pride swelling in her heart. Jr. was too preoccupied with eating to say much else, and that in itself was better than any compliment.

When he was finished, he went back for another huge helping. "I guess I shouldn't eat it _all_. Give some to Mary tomorrow, I want her to take back what she said about your cooking. And the old man ought to have some, right?"

"I don't think that Ziggy can eat," MOMO replied through a timid smile. "He doesn't have a digestive track."

"Oh yeah," Jr. nodded. "More for me, then!"

MOMO giggled at his enthusiasm. When he was finished with the second piece, he made sure to get all of the excess icing from his plate. MOMO watched him in amusement. Then, it was silent in the room again.

"Thank you so much," Jr. said. "But hey, what brought this on, anyway? Mary didn't badger you did she?"

MOMO thought for a moment before she replied, not about the answer but rather, how she should phrase it. "I have always wanted to cook for someone."

"Why?"

She looked over her shoulder in the opposite direction in embarrassment. "Because," she began, quietly. "I want to make my own family happy someday."

Jr. laughed. "Well you succeeded, I'm pretty happy right now. I wish I was part of your family!"

A smile escaped. "I'm glad."

Jr. still did not fully comprehend what MOMO meant when she spoke of her own family. He figured that it was Ziggy and Juli Mizrahi to whom she referred. A pang of jealousy flared in him, but he put all thoughts aside as he looked up from his plate again. "Well, I suppose that's a night then," he said, standing to stretch his arms. "Don't worry about these plates and stuff, I'll get somebody to clean it for you. And I'm not taking no for an answer on that, either."

Though she hated the thought of making someone else clean up after her, MOMO decided to let that go, and stood up as well. "Please take some stomach medicine," she answered and gently touched her hand to his arm. "Please? I don't want you to get sick because of me."

Jr. slapped his palm against his belly and stifled a belch. "My gut's seen much worse than that, trust me! Don't worry about it at all."

"Okay, if you say so," she agreed, as they approached the doorway. Jr.'s gaze became fixated on her face in the silent gap in their conversation. She felt his eyes lingering on her, and began to look away again, nervously. "What is it?"

"You've got icing on you," he said, and pointed at her cheek, chuckling softly. "Messy eater huh?"

MOMO gasped and began to rub at her cheek in embarrassment, but it was the wrong one. This incited more warm laughter out of Jr. as he watched. "Let me," he said, and raised his hand to wipe her face. Then he froze, eyes drifting upwards for a moment as he considered something inwardly. She waited for that split-second in confusion, then he made up his mind and daringly went with the dramatic idea he was mulling over. Her face flushed as he leaned close to her and kissed her cheek, cleaning the dried sugary residue away in the process with his lips.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said.

MOMO shook slightly from her stiffened position at his words where she stood in disbelief. "Yes! Ah... tomorrow!" she exclaimed, and in flustered embarrassment, ran into the hallway. Her quick escape was hindered when she lost her footing and nearly tripped. Jr. thought of going to help her, but he was interrupted by the sound of two young women giggling just outside the doorway.

He whipped around to find the Godwin sisters looming outside the door like vultures hovering over their prey. Immediately he knew he was doomed.

"Real smooth Lil' Mastah," Mary said through bubbling laughter. "You're a real casanova!"

"I agree," Shelley said, snickering calmly. "How very forward of you."

MOMO watched from out of sight as Jr. proceeded to scold and berate his subordinate commanders for their behavior. He failed by a large margin to enforce his authority over either of them, but it all seemed like it was in good fun. She smiled warmly to herself, trying to imagine Jr. as a father. Failing in that attempt, she turned to skip off towards her room for the night, wondering _maybe someday..._


	18. entry 21 hey, you know

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 21!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:  
Two in a day! You're so lucky and/or unfortunate!

**"You Know."**  
30kisses Challenge #5: "ano sa" ("hey, you know...") 

Description: one-shot, takes place between disc one and two of Episode II.  
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)

* * *

_She opened her eyes and..._

It was over. The dive ended. Their surroundings faded in a flash and they found themselves back in the UMN Control Center's encephalon dive room. He threw the red-tinted goggles off of his face and ran to MOMO, who floated at the center of the platform.

Her golden eyes which had held a soul-wrenching emptiness now looked down at him with recognition. He drew in a breath sharply and curled his fists in anxiety wanting to reach out to her, but unsure if it was safe to do so. The edges of her mouth pulled into a weak smile, and then faded away as quickly as it had appeared. Her eyes closed wearily.

"What's happening to her?" Jr. asked frantically as her body fell limp. "I thought she was better! What's the matter?"

Ziggy joined him in looking to Juli Mizrahi for the answer. She noted their worrisome expressions and reached out to MOMO as Mary lowered her body from the floating position it was in.

"MOMO has just experienced what you might call a complete reformat," she explained as they watched her handle MOMO with a surprising gentleness. "It will take quite some time for her to 'reboot.' Please understand."

"She'll be alright though?" Ziggy asked, taking the words straight out of Jr.'s mouth.

"Yes," Doctor Mizrahi replied in relief, as a medics approached with a floating hospital bed to transport MOMO to a place where she could recover. "Thanks to all of you, of course..." She swallowed hard pushing back whatever emotions were growing inside of her as they placed MOMO upon the surface and began to take her away.

"Jr." Shion said, after seeing that MOMO was going to be fine. "What about Albedo?"

Jr. turned to her and abandoned his thoughts of following MOMO to the medical center. She was in better hands than his, most definitely. "Right. We need to get up to the command center and see if they've found anything."

Shion, chaos, and Ziggy followed Jr. through to the hallways, but they did not get far before their small leader knelt to the ground and clutched his hand to his chest in pain. His heart was aching now in a more literal sense. Shion approached him as the others stood back in alarm. "What's wrong?" she asked frantically.

"My chest," he struggled to say in agony. "My right side... This pain..."

Shion knelt beside him, offering comfort. She placed a hand on his shoulder gently and he accepted her help, as Ziggy made the decision to call for medical attention.

"Just hold on," she said. She searched for words that might console him or reassure him, but there were none. "You just have to hold on for us, Jr."

* * *

He was in such pain that he was hardly aware of what was going on when his brother came with doctors to take him into their care. Now the pain was sharp but bearable and he was able to make out his surroundings. He was in a bed in the corner of a medical room. It was built with a capacity for six patients, but the other beds were empty at the moment.

"What kind of experiments are they _doing_ in there?" he heard one young nurse ask an older one. Encephalon injuries were their expertise, but the patients they had today were strange even for them. Jr. looked up and found that the two of them were trying to get readings on his condition. 

"Don't know," the older and more experienced nurse replied, firmly. She had the experience to know when it was best not to ask questions.

He groaned and sat up as the younger woman examined his heart rate. "I'm fine," he said in annoyance. Gaignun came to his side and nodded to the nurses. They left promptly, though extremely confused. The boy was obviously in tremendous pain, but he showed no signs of physical trauma. That was even stranger than the realian they had in the next room who had somehow survived having her neural network destroyed.

"Is it any better?" Gaignun asked, after they left. Mary and Shelley were absent as well, leaving the brothers alone.

"It's getting there," Jr. replied with a tired sigh. "I don't suppose you can contact Albedo..."

He answered with silence. Though Jr. felt the pain intensely due to the fact that Albedo was his twin; Gaignun was not totally immune to the effects of his brother's disappearance. The white thread of the spiritual link that bound the three of them was completely frayed and snapped off at the source.

"How's MOMO?" Jr. asked next. Worrying about other people was the best way to get his mind off of his own problems.

"Recovering," Gaignun explained. "When I saw her they had her attached to some sort of machine that was helping to repair her memory while in a state of sleep."

Jr. turned his head away sharply. "What does it do?" he said bitterly. "Feed her fake memories or something?"

Gaignun shook his head sympathetically. "You needn't worry so much. She's entirely fine. Miraculously enough, her personality layer and memories came back to her undamaged. Its a testament to her humanity that they weren't lost forever. As a result, her mind is very chaotic at the moment, and so she needs to rest. Dreams are the mind's way of sorting things out, you know."

Jr.'s expression relaxed and his shoulders slacked as the tension faded out of them. "You're right," he said. "Physical therapy but for the brain, I guess. It just... hurt me so much to look at her that way." 

Gaignun fell silent again allowing his brother to digest those feelings before he spoke. "You have only known these people for a few days," he said, "but I can see that you've already spawned a few deep friendships here."

Jr. stretched his arms and laid back on the bed. "What are you getting at?" he asked, annoyance sounding in his voice.

"MOMO is very attached to you," he said. "That's what caused her to react in the encephalon. It's a feeling deep enough that Albedo was able to pick up on it when he linked with her, and he used it to his advantage this time. Though the similarity is obvious, I don't believe that it's because she's been programmed to emulate Sakura either."

"Of course not!" Jr. spat back, jumping back up to his defensive sitting position after only having been relaxed for a moment. As he moved, he felt the pain in his chest again. It was still there, though it was numbing down. It no longer felt like Albedo's pain, but more like a tender area left where something vital was torn away. He wasn't sure if he was glad to lose the sensation, if it meant that Albedo was gone.

"Get some rest," Gaignun replied. He straightened his expensive green tie and turned towards the door. "We can't leave until MOMO is well again in any case, so just relax. Shelley and I are handling everything and Mary will be here with you."

"Alright," Jr. said in a yawn, and laid back against the pillow. "Thanks for being around."

Gaignun stopped for a moment before he reached the door. "You really don't have to thank me for that..." As he glanced at his brother a final time, he was amused to a small extent to see that Jr. was already in a deep slumber.

* * *

When Jr. awoke he felt no lingering pain except for the nagging in the back of his head at all times. _Don't you want to make peace with your brother?_ Shion's words echoed in his mind and he had to force himself to worry about other things to forget it. It wasn't hard to find something else to turn his attention towards. MOMO was still out of it, and he felt responsible for the entire situation.

When he approached the hospital room next to the one he was in, he found Ziggy and Shion having a discussion outside. They both looked up as he approached and quieted themselves making it obvious that the subject of conversation was himself.

"What is it this time?" Jr. said playfully, grinning up at Shion with a laugh. "Still trying to figure out if I'm a illegitimate son?" 

"No, ah..." Shion smiled back at him. "We were just talking about MOMO."

Jr.'s expression darkened and did a poor job of hiding his guilt. "Has she woken up yet?" 

"A little here and there, but not to full consciousness," Shion replied. "She really is fine, though." There was a pause as Shion turned her head to look up at the tall cyborg towering over her. He responded to the glance by looking at Jr.

"You should see her," he said. 

Shion nodded, backing him up. "Did you know that realians benefit from being spoken to when they are sleeping?" she asked. "Doctor Mizrahi has been in there all this time talking to her.

"Really?" Jr. replied in amazement. He turned to the door and stood on the tip of his toes to peer into the hospital room. MOMO laid on a bed, curled up like she was in a comfortable sleep rather than sprawled lifelessly on her back as he imagined her being. Juli Mizrahi was sitting in a chair next to her with a worrisome expression painted on her face. He watched for a few moments as the woman reached her hand out to pat MOMO's head, fluffing her peach-colored bangs. There was no one there to fool, and MOMO was not awake. Jr. was left with the only explanation being that Doctor Mizrahi had finally decided to accept her realian daughter. 

He fell to his feet again and took in a deep breath in relief, looking up at Ziggy. "I think you really talked some sense into her, old man," he said. Shion looked up at him with a confused expression but Ziggy didn't answer. Before further questions could be asked, the door slid open abruptly. Jr. took a step out of the way as Juli Mizrahi exited the room. She had dark patches under her eyes and her normally graceful movements were sluggish and clumsy.

"You look like you could use some rest," Ziggy said.

She shook her head. "I can't, I have to be here when she wakes up." She broke eye contact with them and looked down at the ground. "If I'm going to act like her mother, then I can't start by not being there for her."

"It'll still be a few hours," Shion reassured her with a smile. Though she didn't know Doctor Mizrahi personally, she could empathize with the woman's dilemma and wanted to see her and MOMO become a family. "You can rest a little, and you won't miss a thing."

"It would make MOMO happier to see you well-rested," Ziggy added. 

"Right!" Shion chimed. "And, Jr.'s going to stay here with MOMO, _right?_"

Jr.'s head popped up from vacant thoughts as Shion volunteered him. He put his hands on his hips and sneered at her in the sort of way that only made her want to laugh. "Of course," he said with a sigh. "I did just take a nap, after all."

He nodded to Doctor Mizrahi and took a deep breath before entering the room. The door slid shut behind him blocking out all noises from the hallway. The sound of his boots against the floor echoed in the room as he approached the bed where MOMO's sleeping form laid. "What am I supposed to do now?" he asked himself as he pulled a chair out to sit in it.

He sat for an unknown length of time in silence just trying to think of what he should say. "Good morning MOMO," is what came to mind first. "I guess I'm supposed to say that when you wake up, but by then it could be afternoon, right? Wait uh... I think its afternoon already..." MOMO's heavy breaths and the beeping of the machine regulating her sleep patterns were the only responses he received. "What am I doing?" He asked himself in a groan, and rubbed his cherry red hair out of frustration. "Like anybody cares about that..."

It occurred to him that using such a negative tone might not do her any good. Shion wasn't specific but it seemed like MOMO could use some reassurance right now, if only in her dreams. He wanted to give her that, at least.

"Hey... you know..." he started. 

"You know that I never thought you were her, don't you?" He stretched his fingers and placed them firmly over his knees so that they wouldn't wander nervously. "You know... I just didn't want to hurt you... right? I thought it would only make you sad if you knew anything about her. I think your father was really cruel to say you need to be like her to be human. That's just... not true." 

He took a deep breath and released it. "She told me to take care of you and your mom too. I don't know if you heard me before when I said I'll always protect you, I don't even know if you can hear me now, but I will. I haven't done a great job so far, but I swear..." He sighed again and shook the red locks of hair about his forehead. "Wait.. I'm messing up again. This isn't about me keeping a promise."

He shook his head as if doing so would shake his thoughts into place. It didn't help, and he wondered why all of this was so hard to say.

"I was going to tell you everything once we knew each other better," he continued, "and you know... I was hoping that you wouldn't find out because I was having a lot of fun. Is that selfish of me?" He laughed bitterly at himself. "Albedo is right. I'm always thinking about me. It was nothing to help you, only myself. He's absolutely right. But here... let me try and think just about you here for a second." 

MOMO continued to dream obliviously as Jr. thought. He thought very hard about everything that had happened in the last few days, and about this realian girl. They had just met a few days ago, but it seemed much longer. He had known of her existence all of this time. His mission was to see her safely to Second Miltia and to find a way of patching things with her mother. That would fulfill his promise to Sakura completely and bring him some peace of mind. "But I was only thinking about it from my end," he said.

"I know I'm not the best at empathizing with others but... I really do understand how you feel, MOMO." His eyes wandered all around the room and then returned to her as her hand twitched slightly in her sleep. He was afraid she might have woken up, but smiled as he realized that she must be having a good dream. As she moved a lock of her hair fell over her face. Without thinking he extended his hand to move the obstruction.

"The way you feel about me is the way I felt about Sakura," he said while leaning over, pressing his elbows to his knees. "She was the first girl that I had ever met, the first person outside of the world of scientists and doctors who cared about me, the only person who saw me as human." He looked down at the blanket that covered her wondering what kind of life she had been living up to this point, and if there was anyone who saw her as more than a realian outside of their recently assembled group of friends. Juli Mizrahi might have if she hadn't been scarred so badly by Sakura's death.

"Your mom was there too," he said. "She really cared about me. I guess to me, she was kind of like how Ziggy is to you. I was always trying to help her and do good things to make her happy. I wanted to grow into a person she would be proud of." Lingering at that thought, he wondered if he had accomplished that or not.

"I wanted to be human too," he continued. "I wanted to heal Sakura so that I would have some worth outside of what I was created to do. Unfortunately, I found out pretty quickly that there's no blue fairy in our world, MOMO... but its okay. I think you're just fine the way you are."

He chuckled at himself with less bitterness this time as he noticed how far away from his original point he was getting. "Oh man," he sighed. "I really got off the subject didn't I? I was trying to say something..."

He took a moment to recollect his thoughts. When he found them again he found it difficult to speak. "I want to do more for you than just keep a promise." He inhaled deeply and swallowed trying to stay relaxed. "I really... _want_ to be like Sakura for you. I don't know how well I can do, but I am going to try harder than I've ever tried. That's what she would want, and that's what I want. I don't know why I can't say this while you're awake but I hope that somehow, you'll know."

The room became quiet again as Jr. wondered what else he should say. "What would Sakura have told me if I needed her to say something the way you need me to say something for you right now?" he wondered. "I don't know." 

He hushed himself abruptly at the sound of a beep that gave just a second's warning to the door opening behind him. He turned, and watched as their group poured in. He stood and let Juli Mizrahi take his chair as he looked to Shion for an explanation. "Why's everyone here?" he asked, looking at Mary, chaos, and Ziggy all assembled there with her.

"It's time for MOMO to wake up," Shion said as she and Mary began to check over MOMO's vitals together.

"Already?" he responded.

Mary made a clicking sound with her tongue as she detached the regulating equipment and shook her head. "You've been in here for three hours, Lil' Mastah! Don't tell me you didn't notice. We thought you were sleepin' in here!"

Jr. looked at a clock on the wall and realized that it was true. "I guess I kinda zoned out..."

"Well, she's all set," Mary said. "Sleeping beauty here should get up whenever she's ready! It's a real shame. I told her we could go do something fun, but it looks like we're gonna have to mobilize instead."

"That's right," Shion agreed, sadly. "I promised I'd show her around town but I've been ordered to go back to Vector pronto." 

Juli Mizrahi looked up from where MOMO laid to all of them. "You really care for her so much..." her words trailed off. 

"Well yeah," Shion answered. "MOMO's a great friend. She makes everyone want to do their very best somehow, it's really something."

chaos nodded in agreement. "That's true."

"Yeah," Jr. laughed. "She makes us all pretty much unstoppable."

Juli stared speechlessly at them all for a moment, lamenting the fact that she didn't know about MOMO's strong spirit herself. She never paid enough attention to her human qualities, she forced herself to ignore them because it was painful. But now, she wanted to know everything about MOMO. 

Each of them found a chair except for Ziggy who remained standing. There were a few small conversations between the less tense of the group. Shion explained how she passed all of the transfer work to Allen so that she could stay a bit longer, and that he sent his regards. Mary began to update Jr. on the situation developing. This all ceased entirely when MOMO's body began to stir.

MOMO sat up in the bed sleepily and rubbed her eyes. The first person she saw was the woman who was legally her mother. "Mommy?" she said in surprise, half-yawning.

The others smiled as Juli embraced the girl and held her tight for a moment. "MOMO," she said. "You're alright."

MOMO gasped with joy and glanced around the room as she finally let go. "I'm sorry to trouble everyone," she said. She smiled at Ziggy, who very nearly returned to gesture. Then, in realization, guilt crept onto her face replacing her smile. "The Y-DATA is gone now, isn't it?" she said sadly. "I didn't protect it the way it should have." 

"Blame me if you've got to blame someone," Jr. interjected. "I'm the one who failed to protect you after all." 

MOMO opened her mouth to argue, but Ziggy agreed with him. "I'm your body guard. Casting blame solves nothing, but if you must, then I would much rather that you blame me than yourself." 

"No, not at all," MOMO said coyly, shaking her head. "I know that you all did your best and I am safe... but the Y-DATA..."

"It most likely would have been used to open the gateway eventually either way," Juli said calmly. Jr. looked up at her in surprise to hear this. He knew that the protection of that sealed off sector was something she would do anything for, and yet she was passing it off as a minor incident for MOMO's sake. "I'm just glad that at least you are alright."

* * *

A few days later, MOMO stood in the docking bay of the Durandal waiting for Ziggy to appear to take her to her mother. She reflected on all of the things she had done since the Y-DATA was lost. She became a fighter alongside her friends, no longer just a repository for the key to Old Miltia. It felt like she had a place now, and that was a wonderful feeling. At the same time, she wondered if maybe she was getting a bit overexcited. Jr. seemed embarrassed when she threw herself at him upon his return, and though she did regret the action a bit, she knew that she couldn't have helped herself at that time. That was what it was like to have strong emotions. She had been so overwhelmed with joy, it was impossible to contain it. A lot of realians didn't have the opportunity to feel things like that, so she considered herself lucky.

She turned at the sound of Jr.'s voce calling out to her. "Hey, MOMO!" he said.

She spotted him in the crowd and walked to meet him. His eyes were dark and tired. "Jr.," she gasped. "You should be resting!"

He laughed and shrugged. "I had to come say goodbye, you know?"

MOMO clasped her hands in front of herself timidly and smiled. "Well I'm glad... even if you really should be in bed."

"Well, I guess this is goodbye for a while. But hey, you've got your mom to take care of you now. It's gonna be great for you."

MOMO looked down sadly and he knew that his words weren't helping, as usual. He wondered what he could do to let her know that they would always be together, even if they were separated by astronomic spaces, by great lengths of time, or even by death, for that matter.

MOMO tilted her head and looked at him curiously. "What's wrong?" 

"I want you to promise me something," Jr. responded. "Promise me that you'll enjoy your life and take advantage of everything you didn't have before."

"Okay," she answered. "But Jr., I--"

He cut her words short by pressing his lips to her cheek for a brief second. Her breath stopped and her eyes opened widely, glittering bright golden in surprise. Then he took a step away from her. "Seeya, MOMO!" he called out loudly and waved his hand as he began to run away. 

MOMO watched, still awestruck, as Jr. ran so quickly across the docking bay that he stumbled a few times. She raised her hand to her cheek and her eyes floated absently downwards in a daze, trying to hold onto that soft, warm touch for as long as possible.

"Are you ready now?" She heard Ziggy's voice ask her as he approached.

She turned with a warm smile on her face. He looked at her questioningly, wondering why her face was so red. "Yes," she replied. "I think am."


	19. entry 22 Excessive Chain

**Notes:** Hey, think of one character who hasn't been in this fic collection so far! He's appearing in this one. No, its not Wilhelm. IT'S ALBEDO! Mwahaha.  
**Other news**: Find Us Peace is still on, I'm working on it. The chapters are really long, so pardon my update slowness please! As for the other fics, they are still on too.

**Excessive Chain**  
30kisses Challenge #13 - Excessive Chain  
Description: A Xenosaga III-inspired fic. Therefore. **SPOILERS SPOILERS.** Don't read any further if you don't want to know ANYTHING about Xenosaga III.

It was difficult to believe, or maybe the fact that it was _not_ so difficult simply made it hard to accept.

_Albedo still exists in this realm._

After everything, after releasing himself from this prison he was in and finding some peace in rest, he was _still_ there. _How?_ they asked themselves, but more importantly, _Why?_

Jr. couldn't get it out of his head. He was angry, fuming mad. It was a miracle that red sparks didn't fly off of his body as he ran through the corridors of the structure they were trekking through in order to reach their next destination. At the same time, somehow he was unbelievably happy. This was his second, no-- actually, third or fourth chance to get through to his brother, and he wasn't going to screw it up. But, he was sure going to beat him _half_ to death in the process.

MOMO however, was both sad and fearful. She had found some measure of comfort at last in the idea that Albedo had died the way he did. Not that she wished for him to die, it was not in her nature to hate or wish death upon anyone, no matter how much she had been hurt. However, it did seem a peaceful and unavoidable end, something that would finally close the matter and Jr.'s torture would cease. All of that was completely gone, when the white cloak removed his mask. Safety and faith shattered.

Trough the eerily silent winding halls they ran, with KOS-MOS at the front, Shion and the others filling in behind her as usual. MOMO fell ever-slightly to the rear just for a moment, but a moment was all that he had been waiting for.

It took her by surprise, as nothing at all showed on her sensors which were usually so precise. She gasped as someone grabbed her from behind, clasping a white, clawed hand over her mouth.

He waited in amusement for a moment for the others to actually notice that MOMO had stopped running, and turn around. "Rubedo really is slow to the mark, isn't he?" he whispered in her ear, as she watched his headtrong red-haired brother run off without her.

Ziggy was the first to notice and stopped, alerting everyone to the disturbance. They found MOMO held rough thirty feet behind them by the cloaked and unmasked White Testament. A bullet shot into his direction in a fury did absolutely nothing.

"Would you still fire if you thought it could hurt me?" Albedo snickered, as he defelected the bullet without a hint of effort. Jr. was glaring at him with a burning desperation. "Is it because you honestly care for this girl, or because you'll feel guilty if anything were to happen to her? Ask yourself this question seriously, Rubedo. It's not multiple choice."

Jr. started shouting and running, and Albedo replied with some clever barb, but it was all a blur to her. She was fading into a white void. It was geting thicker and thicker, until she could no longer see her friends. Though this felt so much like being buried in snow, it wasn't cold.

When reality faded back into place, MOMO had no bearing on the passage of time. Her location was different, though it appeared to be another chamber within the same facility. The room was circular, with several halls adjoined. It was totally unguarded, screaming of a baited trap. What MOMO found more disturbing at the moment however, was the white figure kneeling over her body as she laid on the floor.

Quickly she jumped up and ran for one of the exits, her breaths near hyperventilation in distress. Though she could see nothing and no sign of a barrier appeared on her monitors, she felt herself run into an invisible wall with a light thud. Albedo laughed, watching her smack into the field as if he'd set it up that way on purpose. MOMO did not find this humorous at all, and beat with both hands against the barrier. Though striking the wall created a loud noise, it was obviously not going to give to her attacks.

Albedo pulled the cloak from his head and stretched his neck, giving the impression that he had experienced a long day. MOMO winced in fear, though she stood her ground as he approached and reached out for her with his taloned fingers.

"Now I know what you are thinking, Ma Peche," Albedo crooned, gently rubbing the smooth side of his hand against the back of her head, trying to get at the strands of her hair underneath the hat she was now wearing. "This whole revival thing is getting a tad _excessive_, isn't it? Yes, I know it's overdone. But I had to come back this world just one more time. I am the eternal chain, after all--The best suited to weave our eternal circle!"

MOMO shivered and backed away an inch, while still doing her best to stand strong. She forced her eyes open to look at him. "How could you do this to Jr.?" she asked him accusingly. "He blames himself for not saving you, he tortures himself for you! "

"_Jr.?_" he responded, oblivious to the question. "Oh, _that_ is what you call him isn't it? Because he won't _allow_ you to use his real name. Oh ho ho, poor peche. So woefully naive, but then... it is your charm."

"What do you want with me?" she hurried on, remembering suddenly that to attempt reason with Albedo was completely impossible. "I don't have any importance to anyone anymore!"

"Oh, no... that is simply not true," he crooned, and pulled her closer to him. "All of those people who my associates find important consider you very valuable, for whatever reason. But most of all, your importance to Rubedo is the main issue. You see, you've been fooled just as I was. You give your heart to Rubedo, and he abandons it for his own selfish reasons. That liar!"

He bellowed his trademark maddening laugh, as MOMO tightened all over and her entire body became rigidly stiff. "Stop it!" she said firmly. "You're just torturing him for fun! You're despicable!"

"I am a monster," Albedo chuckled, "But you've been greatly misled if that's what you think. Ah, Ma Peche... Let me ask you something... _Doesn't it still hurt?_"

His words were met with a small but violent shudder. She shook her head and denied the response welling up in her. Albedo kneeled to one knee, the robes pooling around his feet, and looked into her eyes at her level with taunting grin. He pulled the hat from her head and threw it over his shoulder, laughing softly for once. "It still stings where I dug into you, _doesn't it?_ It's still raw in those places within you, and you're so terribly afraid and hurt... and yet no one will comfort you!"

MOMO clenched her fists and pressed her eyes shut, turning her head sharply away. He caught her chin and turned her face to his again. "Rubedo could have made it _all better_ by now, but he hasn't. Why? Because he's a weak man who wouldn't risk exposing himself for anyone! Even for poor Ma Peche, who he claims to care for so deeply."

"What do you mean?" she whimpered. "What could he have done about it?"

"Ha!" he laughed. "So _sweet_, you never dared to question him! I think you might be too good for him, Ma Peche." He released her chin from his grasp and her head snapped back away in distaste, which he ignored. He rubbed his own chin playfully instead. "How to explain this to you, oh frail and innocent being of purity... Rubedo also possesses the power to enter your spirit, and I'm quite _sure_ you wouldn't mind, seeing as he is _that person_. His unopposed entrance would be a balm to those wounded areas inside of you. Haven't you ever thought about it? Don't you want to hold a piece of him, the way you hold a piece of me?" He stroked her cheek tenderly as he said the words. It was too familiar, too similar.

"Stop! Stop it!" she said, and backed up until she was against the wall again. He watched her, greatly amused, as she tried to explain herself. "I can't hate you, I even pity you sometimes, but I can't forgive you! For what you did to me, and even more, what you did to my sisters! Stay away from me! I really don't care what you think about Jr., as long as you're only interested in hurting him!"

Albedo began to cackle again, as if MOMO had just told him the most hilarious joke. "I thought you would have figured it out by now! You're all so slow. You see, everything I'm doing is for Rubedo's sake. Your limited perception disappoints me."

"What do you mean?"

"So _glad_ you asked," he replied, and swung his arms in a grand gesture teasingly. Then he began a speech that sounded extremely rehearsed. "You may believe that Rubedo is the pillar of strength which supports the entire universe! I did at one time, sure enough. _I'll always protect you,_ he says! _I'll never leave you,_ he says! But what does he do? Ignores you! And all for the image of some brown-haired _whore_. Ah, Ma Peche! When I first learned about his place in your heart, I thought _Oh, the irony!_ It doesn't get much better than this! She drowned in life just to spite him, to spite _us_, and you emerged from death just to be with him, and yet nobody sees the injustice!"

It was then, MOMO began to discover yet another level of Albedo's insanity. "You're talking about _Sakura_," she said. It was the first time that the name had actually fallen from her lips, as if for her to speak it was a blaspheme against her own being.

"**_No,_**" Albedo sarcastically replied. "I was talking about the _tooth fairy_! Please try to keep up."

MOMO regained her bearings and controlled her fear enough to stand facing him, unwavering. "I know that Jr. may not be perfect," she said. "But... I still feel the same way, despite his flaws. I know that he has always done his very best, and given his all. He may fail, but nobody can be perfect. If you can't see that, then you'll never know how much he loves you. Right now you might be an absolute perfect chain, but you're still just a monster."

She expected some response for that, But Albedo did not react violently as she expected. He slowly closed the space between them, stepping calmly towards her.

Footsteps in the hallway beyond the barrier were heard. MOMO turned her head to see Jr. running, leading everyone to her. Ziggy was right behind him, along with KOS-MOS charging her guns. Relief washed over her, until in her distraction, Albedo grabbed her face again with one hand, the clawed fingertips grazing her skin. She looked back up at him terrified, bracing herself for whatever he might do. She heard Jr. shouting something, and felt a breath on her neck.

Then, Albedo tenderly placed his lips to her cheek.

Jr. fumed and sprayed bullets in their direction. "You _bastard!_ Get away from her!" The shots flew into the barrier, proving that it had been dropped just at that instant.

Albedo rose up, his pure white figure standing tall and menacing over them both. "Temper temper! You wouldn't want to hit your lovely mechanical angel, would you?" Then he smiled and grinned at her, while waving his hand and turning his back to Jr. "Later, MOMO," he said in a tone that was much too friendly for her tastes.

He took a step away, and faded out of sight.

Jr. ran after him, running vainly into the spot where he had disappeared, as if he could grab onto the tail of his robe and catch him just barely, as if he could beg him to stay. But he gave up, and his shoulders slumped, head turned down in agony.

"Jr.," MOMO cooed softly. There was nothing but concern for him in her voice.

Jr. suddenly turned his head up, posture changing all at once. He put on a mask. "I'm okay," he said, turning to her, and putting his guns away. Then, his expression changed again. "What about you?" He walked close to her, while the others crowded around. Ziggy, Shion, and the others allowed Jr. to ask. He swallowed hard, trying to hide it but failing. "Did he..."

"No," MOMO replied, and did her best to smile. "He didn't hurt me at all. I'm completely fine, see?" She put on her own mask, and assumed that to be the end of it.

"No, its not fine!" Jr. retorted. She looked up at him and found his eyes flitting around anxiously. "I let him take you away from me again! He could've... you could have gotten hurt again."

She cupped his shoulder with her hand comfortingly and smiled, coyly dipping her head to see his face as it was turned to the floor. "It seemed like he just wanted to talk to me," she reassured him. "Though... I am not entirely sure what he meant."

Shion approached and looked at them both curiously. "What did he say?" she asked.

"He said..." MOMO began, and had to think of what to say. She had no idea how to explain it in a way that would not cause suspicion or alarm.

Jr. grimaced and pulled the hand MOMO placed on him away, rejecting the touch. He held it in his own instead, and squeezed firmly. "I don't care what he said. He's going to pay for everything he's done to you. I'll make him pay, but first I've got to make him understand. I've got to _try_."

MOMO smiled sympathetically. "I know," she said softly. "I'll help you."


	20. entry 23 cradle, 24 in a good mood

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 23!

* * *

**"Cradle"**  
30kisses Challenge #22: cradle 

**emeraldwinter/com/strike100/fanart/35/jpg  
**copy/paste and replace the first and last slashes with dashes.**  
**

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 24!

* * *

Notes: Okay this fic spawned out of a horrible idea that I got talking with a friend of mine after she read my other fic, "artificial idol" and so its a sequel where MOMO expands her career as a pop star to become a movie star! Yes, you can all kick me I deserve it. I made Jr. look stupid again too, I'm sorry Jr! 

**"Artificial Actress"**  
30kisses Challenge #9: in a good mood

Description: never going to happen.  
(The characters and Xenosaga belong to their creators and not me)

Jr. sat in the private viewing room on the foundation that he owned watching a movie on the wall-sized screen. Normally this spot was reserved for his many action films that Mary called _cheesey_, but that day he was watching a fantasy film. It did have a fair amount of action, it just wasn't with guns, explosions, giant space ships, or anything else that he was familiar with. He was watching it for the eleventh time since its release only a week ago. When he found out that MOMO was playing the female lead, he couldn't wait to see it. When he found out that meant she was the focus of a romance sub-plot, he couldn't stop watching, because bitterly hating the male lead made him feel a little better.

"But Odebur!" the pink-haired character said, clinging to her love. Her name was Felicia, and she was decked out in the most beautiful adornments Jr. had ever seen. The costume artist did a good job with her, he thought. She was so beautiful with those pointy prosthetic elf ears and flowing garments. Angelic even. "I want to go with you! Please, if you don't return, I- I just-!" That part broke his heart every time, but then...

Odebur put a finger to her lips to silence her. He was a pretty, blonde-haired young man standing much taller than Jr., which really chapped the hide of the small commander. Now _his_ outfit just looked flamingly homosexual to Jr., but that wasn't the opinion of young women everywhere. Apparently this guy was what they called "hot." Actually, his hair wasn't blonde, its was strawberry blonde. Almost reddish. How could a guy with pink hair threaten the URTV's unquestionable manliness? His sword wasn't even all that big. "Don't worry about me," he said, as her eyes filled with tears. "I'll come back. That's a promise."

The guy playing Odebur was such a horrible actor too, he thought. He was playing some hero off to save the kingdom of Iakuk from his evil twin or some horrible cliche like that, and he was too stupid to tell the elf girl he loved her up until this moment. She was wanting him the entire time, and he didn't even notice. If any girl ever came on to Jr. that way, he'd sure as hell _notice._

"Odebur..." the Felicia said in a hushed tone, and let her hero embrace her for the first time. He gave her a passionate kiss to seal his promise. At this point, Jr. was looking around for something to throw at the screen, but he'd thrown everything on the previous ten viewings. He decided to sacrifice a bit of his popcorn this time, and chunked a handful at Odebur. After doing that, his mood improved immensely.

He'd be angrier, but the thought of a squad of commando's he'd sent to the guy's house not too long ago was putting him in a _really_ good mood. He grinned and laughed bitterly as Odebur continued to sacrafice himself for Felicia, his true love.

ooo

A busty woman in a red dress with long, curly, black hair stood in the center of a crowd of people being kept under control by some Second Miltian police officers. She smiled into the camera with brilliant white teeth as the camera began to transmit.

"This is Rosie Klein of the Second Miltian News Network reporting live from Second Miltia City's public park, where the popular actor, Arrin Everazure of the current number one movie Winter Legend, was found safe and unharmed this afternoon." The camera panned from her to some more police officers escorting a young man wrapped up in nothing but a blanket. "Apparently, young Everazure was kidnapped by a currently unknown organization, questioned extensively, and then hung naked from the large flag pole at the center of the park. The identities of the perpetrators are still being looked into, but it seems as if the young actor is in perfect health."

A male reporter off-screen interjected, "That's quite a story!"

"I've never seen anything like it," the woman replied.

ooo

Jr. laughed loudly as he watched the broadcast. Mary came into his room suspicious of the loud guffawing. "What's got you in such a good mood?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Just havin' a good day!" Jr. replied, sruggling to cease his laughter. "What's up?"

"MOMO wants to talk to ya," Mary replied, giving him a wink. "She's on channel 133."

"She does?" Jr. asked, suddenly looking very anxious. The color flushed out of his face. "Err... did she say what for?"

"Probably just finished her big movie, so she wants to talk!" Mary said. "Why don't you tell her how much you liked it? I know you've sure been watching it like crazy!"

Jr. laughed nervously. "Uh, yeah," he said, and began pushing Mary out of the room. "Well, could I er... get some privacy?"

"Of course, Lil' Mastah!" Mary agreed, and winked at him again. He humored her assumption for the sake of getting rid of her and turned back to his console.

He brought up the proper channel which gave him a lovely image of MOMO scowling at him. That knocked him out of his good mood right away. "Uhh... Hi MOMO," he said. "Long time no see?"

"I can't believe you would do something like that," She said, refusing to return his grin. She didn't sound _too_ angry, though. "I... I just can't believe it..."

"Hey," Jr. said, trying to defend himself. "That guy had it coming! So does everybody who wants you to work on movies like that! Selling your first kiss on screen as entertainment... That's just- just plain immoral and wrong!"

MOMO gave him a confused expression. "First kiss?" she said. "What made you think... that?"

"Huh?" Jr. stared blankly back at her.

"That's not my first kiss!"

His blank stare was zapped completely dry of intelligent thought. "Wha...?"

"I've kissed boys before," she said modestly. "I mean... none of them worked out, but I did try to have boyfriends... but I don't even like Arrin Everazure! Actually... I thought your prank was kind of funny because he's a real jerk sometimes, its just that..."

"Y-you don't like him?" Jr. stammered. "I mean... of course you don't! Its this pop-star life corrupting you! Your song sounds so sad, so I know you can't possibly be having a good time as a star if you write such a sad song and kiss guys you don't even like!"

MOMO turned bright pink right as he said that. "You heard my song?" she gasped.

"Yeah!" he said. "I listened to your whole album... I listed to it a billion times! You sing so well, and you're a really good actress, it's just that... people are taking advantage of you. That makes me really mad."

MOMO smiled weakly. "Jr.," she said calmly. He liked to hear that version of his name used by her, but tried not to get caught up since he was following what she was saying very closely. "I'm sorry I wrote a song about you without your permission, but... thats how I feel."

Jr. blinked obliviously. "You wrote a song about me?"

MOMO nodded. Jr. was silent for a while as it sunk in.

"I didn't know," he said, and then averted his eyes, blushing wildly. "I uhh... you can uhh... hold my heart anytime, MOMO..."

MOMO laughed at the usage of her lyrics and looked very uncomfortable on the surface, but felt wonderful. "Oh... okay."

Jr. stared back at her warmly for a moment, and then suddenly a horrified expression came over his face. "Oh crap I gotta go tell that other guy not to open that box I sent him!"


	21. entry 25 Invincible, Unrivaled

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 25!

* * *

Notes from 100-series:  
I'm going to explain my numbering system since it seems I've confused a few people. numbers the titles even if you don't want them numbered, and some chapters have more than one entry in them. So, the numbers in the title are o keep the number of entries clear. For example, right now we're on chapter 20, but it is entry 25. The challenge will likely end with 24 chapters even though there are actually 30 entries.  
This one is more of the usual MOMO and Jr. fluff but if you have come this far I doubt that's going to turn you away. 

**"Invincible"**  
_30kisses Challenge #16: Invincible/unrivaled_

A heavy downpour of rain pelted the unfamiliar terrain mercilessly. This halted their search for MOMO and Jr., who had been separated from the party for nearly an hour now. Ziggy, who was the next best fitted to carry out a search (until they reunited with KOS-MOS at least), led Shion, Jin, and chaos along a treacherous path. The rocks were covered in moss and spotted with trees, and the ground had turned slick and muddy.

As they attempted to scale one particularly steep piece of the turf; Shion, who trailed just behind Ziggy slipped, and might have been seriously injured if not for reliable chaos who stood just behind her, and Jin who stopped them both from falling after that.

Ziggy turned back to them and grimaced through the heavy sheets of rain. "We should stop until conditions improve."

"No no," Shion insisted as she picked herself off the ground and chaos in embarrassment. "Don't stop on my account, I'm fine."

"It's not because you're a klutz," Jin laughed softly, which earned him a mean glare from his sister.

"It's true," chaos added. "Any one of us would have fallen trying to cross that, except for Ziggy." Then he looked up at Ziggy himself. "Perhaps you should go ahead? The three of us are fine."

"I have my limitations as well," Ziggy admitted grimly. "If I was to get stuck somewhere, I'm sure that MOMO would be very unhappy."

"Aha, that's true," chaos laughed softly. "We should go back to that outcropping we passed a while back. I'm sure those two will be just fine."

The party of four backtracked through the area and found that even the ground they had covered just minutes ago was getting harder to travel by. "Yick, I'm covered in mud," Shion grumbled, as they approached the rock formation. It jutted out from the side of the mountainous land mass to provide a bit of shelter for them. Jin paid her no attention and chaos only smiled quietly as usual as they both leaned against the mossy stones to rest. Ziggy remained at the front, watching. The rain still pelted him but he did not so much as blink as it struck his eyes.

"Are you worried?" Shion asked the large cyborg man.

Ziggy continued scanning the area calmly as he replied, wondering where his partner of sorts and their mutual charge could be. "There's no reason to be," he said. "I doubt anything we could run into in this terrain stands a chance against both of them together."

"Your confidence in Jr. has grown a lot since the first time we met," she noted with a coy smile. "Anyway, this area seems very cavernous. They should have no problem at all finding a place to hole out."

"The enemy will have a harder time locating them in this weather as well."

Shion nearly laughed to see how well he was taking it. "Knowing those two, they might even be having fun out there."

o o o

"Here!" Jr. said, and snapped a gigantic leaf from some sort of tropical plant. He held it over her like an umbrella and grinned slyly at his invention, though the raindrops were still bombarding his own face.

"That's really the last thing we need to worry about right now," MOMO said gently with a half-smile. Though she found the concern silly, she took hold of the other end of the leaf and held it in such a way that it covered them both it they walked closely together.

"So how long do these downpours last?" Jr. asked, raising his voice in order to be heard over the thunder than began to roll.

"This area really hasn't been explored before, so I can't say for certain," MOMO replied. "But--ah!" The sudden flash of light and deafening noise startled her and she lost her footing on the slippery ground. Jr. was able to catch her around the waist with his free arm just soon enough to keep her from falling over while the thunder rolled softly off again, but she did kick up a good deal of mud in the process and had a bit of trouble getting up.

"Watch it," he teased, and helped her to her feet. "You about took me with you!" MOMO made a small frown at the accusation as she clutched his jacket and attempted to regain her balance.

Once they were level again, Jr. looked up at the sky, shielding his eyes from the droplets with their leaf-umbrella and began to walk. "Hm, that was really nearby. Knowing our luck, we're likely to get hit by lightning."

"We'll be just fine," she reprimanded him softly. "I began to use the anti-lightning veil some time ago."

He snickered quietly. "I guess I really don't have to worry about anything with you around," he said, and then his expression turned grave as something occurred to him. "Man... I bet Shion is _freaking out_ right about now," he said bluntly, though completely out of sympathy. "I hope she's alright. The others I don't worry about so much."

"I know she'll be fine," MOMO said, as they began to walk again. "I'm worried about Ziggy."

"Ziggy?" Jr. laughed.

MOMO pouted a bit that he would chuckle at her concern. "I don't know how resistant to water he is," she said. "I know he can't swim."

"Well that's because he's half metal," Jr. explained, stating the obvious. "But I doubt that a little rain is gonna hurt him."

"I know, but..." she trailed off for a moment, and then returned to the point. "Nobody watches out for Ziggy. Everybody puts him out at the front, and he just goes ahead like he thinks he's invincible."

"I think I know why," Jr. said, still teasing with the tone of his voice by a little. "I feel pretty invincible sometimes too."

MOMO's expression darkened just a bit more. "I know that there's very few people who could rival your skills," she said, "but that doesn't mean you're invincible."

"Well that's not why," he argued with a cocky grin, and watched her eyes widen in confusion. He laughed and pulled her a inch or too closer to him with the arm that he kept loosely at her waist. "I feel like nothing can stop me whenever you're behind me. It's the same for that old man."

Even in the pouring rain, MOMO suddenly felt a rush of warmth through her body. She blushed deeply and turned her head down to hide her face. "I'm glad," she said meekly.

Jr.'s reply was cut short as an ear-splitting blast of thunder erupted around them, and a lightning bolt crashed into a tree just a short distance behind them. He jumped instinctively to protect MOMO, and lost his footing on the slick muddy ground underfoot. As the tree cracked and fell over having been let on fire, he yelped and fell backwards.

MOMO broke into a fit of giggles as the thunder rolled onward once again, and he realized that he was not lying on his back in a few inches of mud. Instead, she was holding him around his own waist. He grinned back at her as he slid around a bit on the way to regaining his balance.

"Are you _sure_ that veil works?" he laughed.

"Of course it doe--" Her breath stopped altogether abruptly along with her sentence as she felt him give her cheek a light kiss. She turned her head in utter shock to find him grinning to the ears.

"Come on!" he shouted, and began to run off in embarrassment, leaving the leaf entirely to her. "I think I see a cave or something up there!"

"Jr.!" she shouted back, not amused in the least. Then Jr., in his haste, slipped again, this time falling face forward and without anyone to catch him. He belly-flopped into the mud and ended up sliding a few feet before coming to an unflattering halt.

Seeing that he came to no harm, she gave him a sympathetic smile and laughed quietly. He stood up again, trying to retain as little dignity as he had left at that point.

"I guess you better not leave my side, huh?" MOMO teased him timidly.

He responded with a stunned vacant glance, and then broke into a loud fit out laughter all at once. "_Okay_, I learned my lesson! Heh. From now on, we'll stick together."


	22. entry 25 good night

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 26!  
Notes from 100-series: This looks like it has no point and it probably doesn't, but I just wanted to explore what would happen after the whole cheesy ending that I had before. XD

Description: This is set in the future of the other entries that tie into each other somehow. Namely: Adults (#28: Calcium), New Hurt (#26: if only I could make you mine), The Next World (#8: Our Own World), The Good News (#2:news; letter),  
Walking in my Shadow (#6 the space between dreams and reality), and Promise (#29: the sound of waves)

* * *

**Remaining Days**  
30kisses Challenge #24: good night

MOMO and Jr. sat across from one another in a cafe on the Kukai Foundation. The eerie feeling that accompanied their sudden body switches had faded away, but this scene still felt strange to them both. Dinner was over, desert was almost done. MOMO was working on a slice of cheesecake. To think, only a few weeks ago he'd thought she was _dead_, and here he was, watching her indulge on sweets.

She noticed him staring and looked up, reading him like one of his precious books. "What's wrong?" she asked, "Would you like a bite?" but both of them knew that this wasn't about cheesecake.

"I'll take some," he answered, and leaned over to eat the piece she held out to him with her fork. "But yeah," he continued, voice muffled by the sweets, "I dunno. It feels like we're in some normal couple's spot."

She smiled at how he somehow managed to express her feelings just as well as she might have herself. "Yes, this is kind of surreal."

"This might be the first time I've been able to sit down with you without something else on my mind."

She smiled. "Well... its not as if we're done fighting."

"Yeah, that's for sure. I'm always going to be fighting something or other," Jr. sighed, then his tone turned to teasing. "Are you sure you wanna get involved with a guy like me?"

MOMO smiled and leaned to rest her chin in her hands, elbows on the table, gazing up a him. He tensed up under her intense stare, warm and loving as it was, and she laughed softly. "I wonder what would happen right now if I were to say no..."

Jr. scratched at his hair awkwardly for a second, surprised that she would tease him right back, then shrugged dramatically with a grin plastered to his face. "I'd go nuts," he said, "But the truth is that I'd understand."

"I'll be fighting as long as you are," MOMO replied. "As long as you're fighting, I will be too. But when the fighting is over... what do you want to do?"

"What do I want to do?" Jr. repeated, not sure what to make of the question. "What do you mean?"

"I just..." she trailed off, and her eyes drifted away from Jr. They held a distant expression, and she sighed softly to attribute to the appearance that she was obviously discontent.

"Just... what?" Jr. asked, stiffening up a bit in alarm. "If something is wrong let me know, okay?"

"No, no," MOMO said, shaking her head and forcing a smile. "There is nothing wrong."

Jr. watched her curiously as she took a sip of her drink. He didn't want to push the subject since he knew how much he hated it when people did the same with him, but the fact that she was having trouble communicating with him hurt a bit. Instead of complaining, he took a deep breath and scanned the restaurant for a moment before his eyes fell upon her again. "I really like being here with you," he said. "Just doing nothing. Just like this."

A more honest and shy smile spread across MOMO's face. "Really?" she asked coyly, smiling in that was as if they'd only just met.

"Someday every day will be like this," Jr. said. "I promise."

MOMO shook her head softly. "No, it will not be," she said. This alarmed him, but he waited patiently for her clarification. She still wore a smile, all seemed well. "We will not always agree, and we will have hard times. I just... hope that you understand that."

"Well yeah, I understand," he said, taking offense very slightly. "Do you think I'm being naive or something?"

"No, it's not that," MOMO said. "Not at all. But..."

Jr. thought very hard of anything a girl could possibly want that he hadn't given MOMO already. "Do you want me to make some kind of commitment?" he said. "I'll do anything I can."

MOMO's pink hair floated around her face gently again as she shook her head again. "No, I know that you love me, I think that nearly sacrificing your life for me is proof enough of that, along with everything else..." she laughed a bit at the very insinuation. "Don't worry. I would never doubt your love for me."

"Eh?" Jr. was still probing the conversation for a lead. "What _should_ I worry about then?"

"Well I don't know," MOMO said, while puzzling out just what she wanted to say herself. "Do you want to have children some day?"

"What?" Jr. spouted. "Don't you think that's a little far off to be worrying about?"

"I'm just using it as an example," she giggled. "Don't get so nervous."

Jr. got the distinct feeling that she was teasing him, and pouted. "Well I dunno, I never thought about it. It's not like I should be passing my genes around, I don't know if I even can. And you..."

He looked at MOMO again to find her staring anywhere but at him. A light flicked on in his mind. "You're a realian," he said. "You can't have children, of course. What was I thinking..."

"Oh no, I really wasn't too worried about that," MOMO reassured him gently. "I mean... we could always adopt if we really wanted to." She laughed. "Gaignun Kukai the third."

Jr. nearly choked on his water at that. "Wow, you really _have_ thought a lot about this," he said awkwardly. Though she seemed sincere, the mention of her realian nature seemed to strike some kind of nerve. "So do you want to have children?" he asked. "With um... with me someday?"

MOMO's meek smile appeared again and this time her cheeks flushed a bit. "I don't really know," she said. "I was just thinking about things like that."

"I think I get it," Jr. mouthed slowly, figuring out the mystery. "You are thinking about serious things."

"I guess so," MOMO said. "It feels like... we are dating casually, even amidst all of this fighting... and I do love you so very much."

"Hmm... It's not enough..." Jr. muttered, deep in thought. "Hmm..." then his head popped up, and he was suddenly beaming with youthful exuberance. "Do you want me to marry you?" he asked, bluntly. "I really didn't plan on it because I didn't think you'd be up for ceremonies and such, but if you want to I will do it right now!"

"Uh-" MOMO stammered, and stared back at him, blinking her big golden eyes twice in surprise. "Um... did you just propose to me?"

"Huh," Jr. thought. "I guess that is what that was..."

MOMO laughed much more heartily at that, and leaned over to peck his cheek with a kiss. "No, you don't have to do that," she said in a tone just above a whisper in his ear.

Jr. smiled, a pleasant warm sensation washing over his body. "Whatever makes you happy," he said. "But personally... my love for you is not comparable to social trappings like marriage. I don't need an official license to spell out what you are to me. Then again, I wouldn't mind being married to you at all."

"That's all I need to know," MOMO said happily, smiling. "Well, I knew that already, but... it is good to hear you actually say it."

"Oh yeah?" Jr. teased. "I should remember that."

MOMO laughed and shook her head, hoping that she hadn't given him the impression that this was some sort of magic cure-all. She sighed, imagining Jr. proposing every time she seemed unhappy. They sat in a silence that was comfortable for once until the waiter returned with their bill.

"Ready to go?" Jr. asked her.

"Yes," she replied, and the two of them walked side by side out of the restaurant. Outside, the foundation was sparkling, having gone into night mode earlier in the evening. This was necessary to keep the living things inside of the space station a natural rhythm, though there was very little natural about it. MOMO gazed up at the large mirrored shapes, unable to see the boundary between the plates and the vastness of space on some.

"What are you looking at?" Jr. asked, as they began to walk towards the Durandal.

"Just the stars," she replied. "It's a nice night, isn't it?"

"Heh," he laughed, "All the nights here look the same don't they?"

"I guess so," she hummed.

They made their way to the loading platform and rode the lift to the gigantic crimson ship standing upright in the center of the foundation. Once on the Durandal, Jr. yawned, stretching his arms and opening his mouth as wide as he possibly could with the action.

"Sleepy?" MOMO asked, and then looked away in disappointment. "So you'll be going now?"

"Well I was going to walk you back to your room," he answered, "but I guess we could say goodnight here if you'd rather."

MOMO blushed bright pink as she took his hand and looked up at him, whispering. "How about... you walk me back... and we say goodnight later on?"

"Oh," Jr. stuttered, as the entire idea crashed upon him. He shrugged and grinned nervously. "If that's what it was... you should have just said so."


	23. entry 26 the road home

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 26!  
Notes from 100-series: Just another MOMO x Jr. moment. I am running out of ideas I guess! XD Luckily, this is 27 out of 30! There is light at the end of the tunnel!

Description: This can be set wherever you prefer, after a battle in which Jr. was injured and missed a fight.

**Durandal's Road**  
_30kisses Challenge #20: the road home_

The Durandal glided through a UMN column, which bathed the window looking out of the park with strange golden light that faded into pinks and violets much like a sunset. Jr. stood close enough to touch the glass, watching the lights and wondering if maybe it was a sunrise instead. He smiled at his reflection as he heard the doors at the front of the empty park activate. That was a new record.

MOMO stepped inside and heaved a tired sigh as the door slid shut behind her. "There you are," she said, and walked towards him. The pitiful sight of him prompted her to shake her head in dismay. He was still wearing the white hospital robe he'd escaped in, not at all inconspicuous. His right arm was still in a sling. Nanotechnology could heal the wound in a flash, but the physical adjustment to such an injury still took a bit of therapy. He also had band around his head to regulate his vital patterns, which pushed his bright red hair up in all directions.

"Sorry," he laughed. "I know I'm in pretty bad shape, but I had to get out of there."

MOMO placed her hands behind her back timidly and leaned forward towards him. "As long as your legs work I guess there's nothing wrong with it," she smiled. "I guess I won't tell on you."

He snickered at that, remembering the last time. "Ha, alright." Jr. turned his eyes back through the window. "I can't believe the Durandal was finally in action again and I didn't get to see it," he sighed, genuinely disappointed. "And now we're on our way back home."

"There's always the video battle records," she teased him lightly.

"Come on, that's not the same," he chuckled. "It's not the same as when she's fighting for her life."

"She?" MOMO giggled. "You mean the Durandal?"

"Yeah, you call a boat a woman, don't you?"

MOMO smiled sheepishly. "Well okay, but I always thought of the Durandal as being male for some reason."

"Nah, she's my baby!" Jr. laughed. He turned around and leaned against the window, closing his eyes in relaxation. "Almost home," he said, releasing a deep and relieved breath. "I'm sure glad that's over. Now all that's left is to ride this smooth current all the way back. That's kind of a nice feeling too."

MOMO shook her head playfully. "I love the Durandal as much as anyone, but I think you take it to a whole new level."

Jr. grinned and cocked a brow as he opened his eyes. They burned a deep cerulean blue and darted straight to her. "Jealous?"

MOMO was so startled by that sudden accusation she bounced in surprise. "N-no!" she stammered.

"Aw," he whimpered playfully, shifting his weight. "Well that's disappointing."

MOMO clasped her arms in front of her and turned away, rocking back and forth gently. "You're teasing me again," she said in a meek voice. "Like yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Jr. responded, totally unable to recall when he last poked fun at her expense. "I don't remember doing anything like that."

"You don't remember," she replied in a saddened tone. "It must have not been very important."

Jr. blinked his wide eyes. "Remember what?"

"Well yesterday you um," she whispered, and her face rose to look at him again. Her cheeks were such a vibrant pink, if he hadn't known better, he would have assumed that she was ill. "You kissed me."

"Ah, oh yeah," Jr. laughed nervously, as if he really had forgotten. "About that, umm..." He pushed himself off of the window and stepped a few paces, scratching his head awkwardly. "That definitely wasn't teasing."

Her eyes lit up in confusion. "It wasn't? Then why did you laugh so much?"

"I was laughing at myself!" he proclaimed, folding his functional arm behind his neck out of anxiety, as if it was more comfortable that way. "And well... it was kinda funny. I mean, the nurses kicked you out and all," he chuckled. "It was all my fault though. Did you think I would do something like that as a joke?"

"Maybe," she hummed. Her face returned to the coy little smile that she normally wore. "Then does that mean that you meant to do it?"

Jr. coughed to clear his throat, which he just noticed at that moment had gotten tight. "Well yeah," he said, and took a deep breath. He forced himself to relax and act naturally.

Though she watched his reflection approach hers in the glass, it seemed like she was watching someone else. Then she felt his arm wrap around her waist and pull them together.

"Yeah, I meant to," he said, and with his eyes closed, rest his chin on her shoulder. "Hey, uh," he asked her. "You'll stay here a while right? I mean... when we get back home."

MOMO smiled mischievously before pulling herself forcefully out of his embrace. "I dunno," she hummed, and then kissed his cheek daringly. "We will have to see what happens when we get there."

He watched her as she bounced on her heels and looked to him with a challenging smirk. "Now that's just cruel," he laughed. "Now you come here!" He whipped his good arm out and grabbed her waist but she slipped out of his grasp. He countered by attacking her with tickling. This continued until they were both falling over in a fit of laughter.

The sound of the park's entrance whizzing open put an abrupt silence to them both, but Mary had already seen their playing and put her hands on her hips. "Lil' Master, you get back in bed on the double!" she scolded, stomping over to him and raising his arm up like a mother retrieving her child from the playgrounds. "You'll have plenty of time to fool around with MOMO all you want when we get back, but for now you stay in sick bay, do you hear me?"

"Aw _man_" he groaned, as Mary continued to drag him all the way out of the park. "When you put it that way, it makes the road home seem even longer."

"Look at your heart rate," she continued to nag. "It's through the roof!"

MOMO laughed and waved goodbye as Jr. was escorted through the doorway. He grabbed onto the edge of it and pulled himself back inside against Mary's tugging for just long enough to shout "I really wasn't kidding!" as loudly as he could before she wrestled him completely out of MOMO's sight.

She returned her gaze to the window and chose to sit in a bench, biding the time alone, knowing that Jr. was doing the same. "It really will feel a lot longer." Then there was some yelling in the hallways that caught her attention again.

_"I swear to god if you run in that direction ONE MORE TIME!"_

"Then again," she sighed, "Maybe it's just long enough."


	24. entry 27

**Golden Bullet** - Entry 28!  
Notes from 100-series: Uhh... this is actually my LAST entry. I completed the challenge. However, I could not post one of the fics due to (cough) mature content, and one of the art entries contained multiple images that I can't format here so what I will do is reorganize and add in some "author's choice" slots to build it up to 30 just for you readers. But for now, the challenge has been completed!

Description: After Xenosaga II sometime, this takes place.

**Sticky Realians**  
30kisses Challenge #23: candy

It was a bright day on the Kukai Foundation when a tall blonde-haired cyborg made his way through the streets of people going about their daily lives. It wasn't an unusual sight on the foundation, and the ability to walk about without drawing undue amounts of attention was nice.

"Hi, Ziggy!" MOMO called out, and came running up. She looked to be in a particularly good mood. Her smile was even brighter than usual, he noticed, as she gave him a hug and squeezed his arm. "Where are we going today?"

"I thought you had the plan," he replied.

MOMO looked up at him shyly and rocked on her heels. "Well I don't know, I just wanted to see you today. I didn't think very far past that."

"I see," Ziggy said. "Then I will make a suggestion." He looked through an index of all of the stores nearby for one that MOMO might like to look at. "Would you like another stuffed animal?"

"You know I've got way too many of those already!" she giggled, "but if we happened to see a really cute one..."

"Hmmm, how about this then," he said, and found a restruant. "Have you eaten recently?"

"Uh-huh," MOMO said. "Just ate."

"Hmm, then lunch is out, but how about..." he began to look for a store that might serve ice cream or some other desert, but finding none, he chose the next best thing. A candy store. "Alright then, I've made a selection."

"Aha!" MOMO laughed. "I'll let it be a surprise!"

They walked down the street, talking back and forth about different things MOMO asked Ziggy about what it was like working with the Kukai Foundation now, and he asked her about life with her mother in return. They arrived at the shop and MOMO gasped in delight to find that it was brightly colored and decorated like a giant toy house.

"What is this?" she giggled, as they entered. "Oh, candy!"

There were rows and rows and stacks and stacks of different kinds of candy. The walls were lined in containers that created a rainbow of bright sparkling colors. Some of them even changed their color every few seconds or flashed, technological feats.

"Wow, I didn't know there were so many kinds," she said.

"I didn't either," Ziggy agreed.

"MOMO smiled and hummed. "I'll try a little each."

"Have as much as you want," he replied. "Try one of each."

"Okay!" MOMO laughed, and began to fill a bag with each kind. "Wow, this is surprisingly fun!"

A while later they emerged from the store, and MOMO had tasted well over fifty kinds of candy. She was hopping up and down as she walked and skipping around every few minutes giddily.

On the way back to the Durandal, they ran into Jr. who had come down to the Foundation to some business, and was now heading back. "Hey guys," he greeted them with a wave. "Having fun?"

"Jr.!" MOMO squealed, and ran for the short read-head. She jumped at him with all of her weight, having a full running start, and knocked him over completely. She kissed both his cheeks twice as he struggled to sit up, and grinned broadly, showing her teeth had been stained blue. "Hi!"

"Hi yourself," Jr. answered, reeling from the sudden burst of affection. With his face red in embarrassment and shock still written on it, he looked up at Ziggy for an explanation.

"I had the idea of introducing MOMO to various types of candy today," he explained.

"Ah," Jr. mumbled, "Well that would explain why I'm all sticky."

"Look Jr.!" MOMO said, still practically sitting on him. She dug into the bag of sweets that she was carrying. "These are sugar straws, and these are gummy bears, here's a peach ring, and oh! These crystalline sugar formations explode in your mouth when you eat them, it's so much fun!"

"_Wow_" Jr. said, marveling at the sheer level of excitement she was displaying. "Note to self. MOMO plus sugar equals one very energetic realian."

"I'm just happy today, that's all!" MOMO insisted with another blue-toothed smile. "Here, try one!" Then as Jr. opened his mouth to speak again, she shoved a bright pink sucker into it. He objected with a muffled grunt and continued to mumble something incoherent.

"Ha," Ziggy chuckled.

Jr. took the pop out of his mouth for a second as he stood up. "Did you just _laugh_?" he asked.

Ziggy shrugged, and a small but sure smile remained on his face. "I suppose I did."

Jr. turned to look at MOMO in amazement. "Well look at that," he said in wonderment, "You made Ziggy laugh!"

"Hee!" MOMO giggled and skipped over to hug Ziggy's waist. "That's great!"

Jr. scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he took another taste of the sucker. "Well I'm not sure this all is good for my physical well-being," he joked. "You can plow into Ziggy all you want, he's made of metal."

MOMO responded by sticking her tongue out. It was turning green now thanks to the technicolor dyes in the candy she had eaten. "Okay then, I will!"

"Hey," Jr. pouted. "That's not very nice."

That prompted Ziggy to laugh again, an action that had been foreign to him for near a century. "New battle equipment... MOMO's sugar rush."


End file.
